The Art Of Neighboring: Week Threeনমুনা

Over the past six days, you’ve studied how God empowers us to obey his command to love others. Sometimes, loving someone else can feel like dying, in that it requires we give up things we treasure (like our time, our comfort, our resources, our pride). But we’ve also learned from God’s Word why we don’t need to be afraid of loving others generously and boldly. One of the trademark characteristics of our Lord is abundant generosity. This generosity is not limited to his followers, nor is it spiritual generosity only. 

Jesus’s abundant love is dramatically illustrated when he feeds the people who have followed him—not to hear his message, John tells us, but because they had seen him heal the sick. Regardless of their motives, Jesus has compassion on the large crowd. Taking the meager portion of two fish and five loaves, he thanks God for the food. Then, he distributes the meal to the crowd, and it keeps on multiplying. 

Pray

Lord Jesus, you have provided us with our true bread—yourself. Thank you for the gift of your life and your presence. Please guide me and empower me to give to others.

Read

Jesus’s love is warm, compassionate, and practical.

John 6:1-15

Reflect

As we follow Christ, we grow to be more like him: we’re able to have deeper fellowship with others, greater generosity, more courage. The more we give to and love others, the more we know our Lord and experience his joy (see Philemon 6-7).

Respond

Write a bullet point list of a few things that intimidate you about loving others—perhaps your neighbor, your co-worker, your sibling, or that difficult person at church. Next to each item on your list, write a truth from Scripture that will give you courage to face that fear. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you opportunities to love.