Mom's Devotional Bible
Neighbor Needs
Additional Scripture Readings: Proverbs 14:21; Romans 15:2
Eight times in the New Testament we’re commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. But how do we love people we don’t even know? We can begin by looking for places where our lives overlap, touching them there. Even though we may not really know them, we have something in common with our neighbors. We share common needs.
“How can we have the same needs?” you ask. “She’s so different! I have a day-care center in my home. She doesn’t have children. They mow their lawn every Friday. We mow ours when it needs it. She sleeps in on the weekend. I go to church.”
Ah, but how about her deeper needs? She needs friendship, just like we do. She needs meaning in her life, just like we do. She needs healing from the bruises of life, just like we do.
She seems so different, unreachable, hard to understand. But it’s really very simple. We begin to love our neighbor as ourselves by touching the ground we share in common: our needs. And many of hers are the same as ours.