Loving Your Neighbors Brad and Heidi Mitchell
" It’ s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?”
From 1968 to 2001, Fred Rogers shared his dream with kids about the importance of being a good neighbor. Neighbors matter. An insurance company even promotes itself as being“ Like a good neighbor...”
Being a good neighbor mattered to Jesus, too. When challenged by the religious leaders of His day about what was the greatest commandment in the Jewish law, Jesus answered,“‘ You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important:‘ Love your neighbor as yourself.’”( Matthew 22:37-39).
We know that the New Testament picture of“ neighbor” is much broader than just the people who live around us. But sometimes if our faith isn’ t working at home— and with those in direct proximity to us— then it just isn’ t working.
Some of you may be familiar with the term“ Emotional Intelligence”( EI) or“ Emotional Quotient”( EQ). It’ s the ability to recognize your own emotions and those of others.
You then adapt and adjust to whatever the situation is.
We believe there’ s room for a new category called NI or NQ— Neighbor Intelligence or Neighbor Quotient. It’ s being relationally aware of one’ s neighbors and how to best relate to them.
How well do you know your neighbors? Do you know their names? Their kids’ names? When was the last time you prayed for them? What’ s going on in their lives?
Being a good neighbor includes more than a wave as you pull into the garage. It can mean initiating an act of kindness. This may take some courage, and yet it can lead to great opportunities to share Jesus’ love. For example, we have some neighbors who are first-generation immigrants. Though they’ ve lived in the United States for decades, they didn’ t fit our neighborhood demographic.
Heidi made our neighbors chocolate chip cookies, and we took them over as a welcome gift. Several weeks later, they shared that no one else had welcomed them into the neighborhood. They invited us into their home for an ethnic dinner— it was awesome— and eventually the conversation turned to our different beliefs. At the time of this
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