Love Thy Neighbor

I've never had a hater before.

Okay, well maybe in sixth grade when whats-her-face cornered me in the middle school bathroom and called me a jerk face.  But since then, I've managed to co-exist with the rest of humanity with relative peace.

SO....being the people-pleaser that I am, it really upset me when we got the following letter in our mailbox last week on trash day:

I will admit that my first reaction wasn't very Jesus-like.  (think: large, neon banner hanging on our garage door with a confrontational invitation to knock on our door so we can settle this issue the right way...)

Despite the fact that this anonymous letter is  1) a cowardly way of handling an issue, and 2) illegal to get into someone's mailbox... my real sadness was the fact that "everyone in the neighborhood" is (seemingly) sick of us! (yes, I know this is a lie of the devil, but still it HURT!)  When we moved here two years ago, at the forefront of my mind was the desire to be an ambassador for Christ in this neighborhood.  God had spoken to me clearly, saying, "This is fertile ground.  Go plant some seeds."  However, if people can't even put up with our TRASH, how can we ever share the life-changing news about Jesus with them?  Jeremy and I are sure that God is calling us to advance the work of the Gospel in Haiti...but if we can't even be effective in our very own neighborhood, how can we expect to be effective anywhere?

Because I tend to spiritualize everything, I really wrestled with how best to address this issue.  So, after several days of steaming, obsessing, fussing, griping, and planning my retaliation, I came to the conclusion that God must be watching to see how I will react to difficult people in my life (and I certainly must be failing the test, as I've just confessed what my knee-jerk reactions have been).  When I turn to His Word for some clarity, this is what I read:

Proverbs 12:16 tells us that “a fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”

Paul teaches us in Philippians 2: 3-4 to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves”.

In Romans 12:18, it says, "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

 

And finally, Jesus teaches us the best way: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you...For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  (Matthew 5:43-47)

 

 

This has been a difficult lesson to learn, and I'm afraid that I performed poorly on my test.  However, I can see clearly now that God is challenging me to step outside of my little plot of land and interact with those around me.  He's helping me get over that need for everyone to like me.  He's leading me to confront my complacency in being a light in my neighborhood.  He's giving me all sorts of opportunities to love my haters. 

 

So, it was trash day again yesterday.  We opted not to hang the big neon banner, since that's really not the best way to be a positive influence.  Instead, we chose to send a much-more-loving response to the trash-police:

 

 

 

 

 

 "Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,

but a man of understanding remains silent."

Proverbs 11:12