Side Effects Include Watery Eyes and Runny Nose

The end result is all about US. Of course, this isn't the central idea that we think about in church, and I'm not advocating selfishness. But it's hard to sidestep the idea in scripture that those who help others and love the least, last and lost will find healing and strength for themselves-that they would discover their own salvation. By loving our neighbor, could we actually be getting healed inside our hearts?

We'd all agree that loving God comes first, and loving our neighbor second. But strangely enough, scripture also reverses itself and says that if we don't do the second, then the first can't exist inside of us. That is, if we don't love our neighbor, how can we say we love God? (See 1 John 3)

There's an underground revolution going on in south Florida involving some people that are going out and loving their neighbor. Some are quietly going out and serving in a soup kitchen. Others love on a widow or a foster kid. Even others are becoming friends with the homeless. In the old Western movies, when the Indians would see something powerful like this, they would say, "That is strong medicine!"

Without stereotyping our Native American brothers and sisters, I would submit that loving your neighbor is Strong Medicine. It's powerful, speaks for itself, and has some strange and crazy side effects. For example, through this love and action, people emerge from the labels and social classes. People! Names, faces, stories of brokenness, marriages, kids, and parents….. They aren't "homeless" or "orphans" or "foster kids" or "widows." They are people; they are Bruce and Malin, Etta and Gladys.

The book of James tells us that pure religion is taking care of the widows and the orphans. Jesus tells us that the final judgment will in part be based on how much we showed his love to the unlovable. Jesus says that the hope and love we have in our hearts is the Good News that we can share with the world! The good news isn't a list of spiritual laws or a handful of verses that you have to say in a specific order to be right. The Good News is love for the unloved, hope for the hopeless. It's light in the darkness, and salt for the bland and bored. Its water for the thirsty, bread for the hungry, friends for the lonely, and strength for the weak.

We are sitting on the strongest medicine the world has ever known, and we have to take it to our neighbors.

Acts 1:8 Jesus tells us to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth with this Love.

In other words, go to your development, neighborhood, city, county and then wherever! Most of us think that we have to drive or fly somewhere to do this, or support someone else's trip around the globe to do it. But I would suggest that we have to start small-with Jerusalem. With our development/condo building/street. So let me ask you a couple questions I have been asking myself lately.

1. Do you know your neighbors' names? Let's just start with the ones you see regularly-the ones who's houses/condos/town homes are adjacent to yours. Do you know them?
2. Do you think that you can't go out and do anything significant for God because of your family/kids/husband/wife?
3. What if God didn't ask you to go around the world or get a passport or learn a system in order to love your neighbor. What if it was just as easy as becoming friends with your neighbors and showing them what Jesus looks like?
4. What if by loving your neighbor, you could teach your wife/husband/kids about the love of God by example? You'd never have to leave your family to do ministry. It would happen on your street.
5. What if your entire church could capture this vision? What would your city start to look like?

Let me warn you, this is revolutionary. It's not an officially sanctioned program of any one church. It has to be a lifestyle. People will ask "When will you start telling them about Jesus?" Let me tell you, without speaking a word, you already have been preaching Jesus to them with your actions. So let me ask you this:

What if I asked your neighbors these questions about Jesus based on your actions alone representing Christ? If you were the only Jesus they knew, how would they answer?

1. Based on (your name here) actions, does Jesus know your name?
2. Does Jesus care about your problems?
3. Is Jesus friendly and helpful, or gruff and self-absorbed?
Let me just say, it's convicting to me. But I have slowly been learning to love my neighbor (yes I know their names NOW) and I've discovered a part of the Kingdom of God that isn't often spoken of in church.

What if loving your neighbor wasn't about what they got out of it, but it was actually for you? What if Isaiah 58 was true? What if we did Isaiah 58:6, 7, 9 and 10? Scripture tells us that if we love our neighbor, then the side effects are all about our own healing. It develops the light in us, it heals our hearts, our salvation comes through it, and we won't get dried up because the Lord will keep us watered. The end result isn't that it helps someone else. That's merely a side effect. The end result is that we are saved and healed! The end result is that we look more and more like Jesus every day.

It starts with our neighbors. Which is more difficult-to love someone on the other side of the world for 10 days on a mission trip or to consistently love your neighbor every day? Start at home, and you'll discover there's a Strong Medicine, and It might mess up everything you've ever been told.