Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
Habit 7 of the Discipleship Guidebook is an important one! Just like all the rest… but it’s uniquely foundational to our discipleship and growth in Christ. ( Catch our peek into Habit 6 here ) Habit 7 is loving our neighbors as ourselves, but what does that look like?
Followers of Jesus are lovers of God and lovers of other people. What made Jesus’ teaching radical in the 1st century and radical today is his call: 1) to love other people with the same level of care we would love ourselves 2) to expand our vision of who our neighbor is, to give costly love to people who inconvenience us and who are different from us. This is much easier said than done.
To love others well we need to become more self-aware. There are important things to know and understand about our identities as we love others, and the similarities and differences between us and those we intentionally love will affect the method of our loving, even though the mission is always the same. For example, we can love intentionally when we keep socioeconomic status in mind: Our own position and that of those we love affects the language we use and can help us pursue diversity within the Church.
As we discover more about how we are similar to and different from one another, and more of how other people experience us, we’re equipped to love others more thoughtfully and effectively. The following are key categories for seeking self-awareness which we encourage you to discuss with your Discipleship Group.
• Race. Our race deeply shapes how we see and experience the world, sometimes in ways we’re not aware of. Discuss your color and culture, and how this influences the way you see and treat others.
• Place. Where we grew up and where we live now form how we love. Explore this as a group.
• Socio-Economic Status. Economics is connected to love. Of all the forms of diversity we seek to enjoy as a multi-ethnic church (race, age, etc.), socioeconomic diversity is generally the most difficult diversity to form in a church because of how deeply socioeconomic status shapes a culture. Discuss and help each other become more self-aware here.
• Age. God puts us in families and in his multi-generational church so that we can experience and give love in all its richness. How does your age and generation influence how you see the world, and how you give and receive love?
• Personality. God created us different. We are each unique creations who uniquely image God. Becoming more self-aware of our personality, how we’re wired and how other people experience us, is a huge component of growing our obedience to Jesus’ call to love.
• Man or Woman. God created us in his image, male and female. Men and women are very similar and very different. Discuss as a group how you can steward your manhood or womanhood (particularly in our increasingly gender-neutral culture) to the glory of God. We encourage our men to wrestle through the vision of manhood presented in Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, and our women to wrestle through the vision of womanhood presented in Psalm 31
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Conflict, miscommunication, sin, and hurt are a normal part of being human, following Jesus, and living in community. One of the best ways we can love each other and keep our church healthy is by “running to the tension.” When significant tension (some tension is wise to overlook, see Proverbs 19:11) arises in a relationship, Garden City’s culture is to run to it—to take the timely initiative to move towards the person to address and work through the tension. Sometimes the tension is a big sin or hurt, sometimes we discover it was just a big misunderstanding.
Because there are so many ways to practice loving our neighbors, here are just two suggestions:
1) Pick 1 way you are passionate about giving transforming love to your neighbor (serving at a local homeless shelter, caring for a single mom in your neighborhood, etc.) and pour focused, relational, thoughtful energy into that over a long period of time.
2) Or, simply live alert to opportunities God puts in your path, like the Good Samaritan did as he traveled the Jericho Road. Discuss your passions, approaches, and ideas as a Discipleship Group. Is there something God might be calling you to as a group?
Take a look at this sermon by Justin from last year on Habit 7!
Here is the full Habit 7 in the Guidebook to flip through, too:
We also want you to have access to the whole Guidebook if you don’t already, so below is a link to download it. We have a physical Guidebook for you too, so you can scribble down your thoughts and prayers and dive into the resource in a Lifegroup! Just email Alayne and we will get you a copy!