Loving Your Neighbor as YourselfÀpẹrẹ

Example #1: The love of a little slave girl

The story in 2 Kings 5 is mainly about Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army. But the story starts with a little slave girl who loved her neighbor — and in this case the ‘neighbor’ is the commander of the army that has carried her off from her land and family to work as a slave in Naaman’s house. It would have been natural for this little girl to hate her master. After all, he has destroyed her life completely.

And yet, when Naaman gets incurably ill, the girl gives him a piece of advice that will save his health, his career and status, maybe even his life. She knows that only God can help (by means of a prophet) and she probably is the only one in Naaman’s surroundings who can tell him about it. After all, the Syrians don’t serve the God of Israel, but have their own idols that can’t really help at all.

The love of a little slave girl leads to Naaman’s healing and to his confession “that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel”. In other words, he found healing for both his body and his soul.

To seek the well-being of people we don’t like at all really is an act of love. Sharing the Gospel with people might be the greatest act of love we can think of.

Are there people around you who also need to know about God?