Who Is My Neighbor?

“All I did was clean it mom.”  That’s what my son told me recently when we were talking at one of our visit’s.  And, he was right.  Years earlier we had purchased a hand mixer from a garage sale for $1.00 because I needed one and as the sole provider we were on a tight budget.  When we plugged it in and found it didn’t work, I thought…oh well, at least we didn’t spend a lot of money on it.  Chris asked if he could work on it and I told him, “Sure.”  What would it hurt?  A few grease stains on the carpet later, he plugged it in and….it worked like a charm!!  I didn’t know what he had done at the time and it was years later that he told me that all he had done was clean it.

That is how life is.  We just need to clean it every once in a while.  For me, that happens when I let God wash me in the blood of Christ.  (I did say, when I let Him…..more on that later.)  I build up “gunk,” (that’s a technical term!!)  Gunk sticks to us like….small particles of magnetized coffee grinds stick to the grinder.  It just keeps building up and building up until the grinder, or the mixer, or, our lives just stop working.  We have to make a conscious effort to clean out the gunk.  That happens when we turn to Christ in repentance of not only carrying the gunk around, but, letting it change us.  Letting it make us bitter, letting it flavor our conversation, our attitudes, and our behavior.  And it pulls to us other gunk, everyone elses gunk!  We are filled with gunk before we know it.   And, life doesn’t work and we don’t know why. 

Repentance is a big word…..actually, a very scary word.  “If I repent, then I can’t do any more gunk!”  We think that it means that we have to make a conscious effort to do all things right.  Well, we do need to make a conscious effort, but, I personally won’t ever do everything right.  I’m not created that way.  I’m created to have an empty spot in my life that can only be filled with Christ….no one, and nothing else fills that void the way my Creator does.  So yes, I make a conscious effort to empty my gunk to allow room for Christ and who He is, letting Him fill the void and wash the gunk and I make a conscious effort to keep my gunk catcher, (another technical term,) clean.  To allow myself to be full of God’s word so that when the worlds gunk, or, my gunk starts attaching itself to me and changing me for the worse, I can recognize it and give my gunk to Christ to be cleansed, to be renewed. 

Only then can I love others, including those who have crushed me with their words or actions.  Only then, can I be free enough to care without barriers and without caution.  To freely give grace and freely love those that Christ loves, my……neighbor.  The attorney asked Christ….”Who is my neighbor?”  Christ answered with the parable of the good Samaritan who helped a stranger that had been beat up and robbed and left on the side of the road.  The Priest and the Levite crossed to the other side….they are the ones that judge, that condemn, that are arrogant in their rightness.  They are the ones who feel it is their job to call out the wrong in others.  To crucify others publicly.  One day we will all stand before God and He may ask about certain events, but, He already knows who we are, where our hearts were at that time and He will judge righteously. 

For me, I will continue to repent, to get washed, to clear off the gunk and I will continue to do those things that I know to be right.  To let God take care of the injustice, allowing me to love and give grace freely.  Christ answered, “He who showed mercy on him.”  To those who have ears to hear.  (Luke 10:29 – 37)