Love Your Neighbor Generously

     Happy November! My favorite month of the year. I am greatly missing the beautiful Fall weather of Pennsylvania, but yesterday I welcomed the month with my homemade pumpkin chocolate bread, and pure maple sugar (brought to my all the way from northern NY from my sister-in-law!) And our next door neighbor gave us a huge steaming bowl of vegetables- corn, sweet potatoes, wiskil, and squash. in this culture, this is the way that they celebrate the Día de los Santos (Day of the Saints) every November 1st.


     In my last post I talked a bit about the difficulties of living in our little village here at Lake Atitlán.

     As my husband can attest to, I get easily overwhelmed. I have always been this way. Overwhelmed not only with my own life, but the lives of the world. I allow things that are out of my control to control me. The many crises of our very broken world and increasing terrorist attacks affect my daily life in a profound way. And when I say "affect" I don't mean that I am now doing something (outside of praying) for every crisis that I am aware of, because that isn't possible. But they affect me in a way that it harms my own self, my own marriage, my daily work and responsibilities. They consume my thoughts and I quickly spiral out of control.

     Once when I was a young teen, I was with my friend who to this day remains a dear friend. We were in Florida at my parents' house and we were parting ways. One of us was going on a trip or going back to Pennsylvania (I can't remember who). She prayed for me before we parted, and the only line of her prayer that I still remember is that she prayed that I would not take on burdens that are not mine to carry. No one had ever prayed that for me before. It struck me so deeply and I've never forgotten it because I've always struggled with it so much. 

     Over the past year plus of living here, I've been thinking about that prayer a lot more. One of the books that my sisters and I recently read for our book club is The Hiding Place. An absolutely amazing testament to God's faithfulness in the midst of unthinkable horror. But as beautiful as the story of Corrie ten Boom and her family is, this book was hard for me to read. I am aware that the level of World War II suffering exists in this present day, and it is hard for me to live with this knowledge. 

     Recently, Kennet and I had yet another request from a neighbor for financial assistance, and in these past days I've had two "revelations" from this particular situation. 

     First, Jesus' teaching about loving your neighbor. When asked what is the greatest commandment, He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). Yes, in Matthew and Mark Jesus also teaches his disciples to "go into all the world" and in Acts He tells them that they will be His witnesses "to the ends of the earth." But He says that the most important commands are to love God and your neighbor as yourself. 

     Do you ever feel overwhelmed? It can be paralyzing, right? And that's exactly what the enemy wants-- for us to do nothing. When I become overwhelmed, I become paralyzed and do nothing. And then I'm not even able to do the things that I can do, that I'm clearly supposed to do- love my neighbor. Jesus didn't say that the greatest commandment is to love the multitudes, he said to love God and our neighbor. That is the place to start.

     The second is gifting versus loaning. I know that the Bible talks about both. I am by no means an expert in this area, in fact I know very little, but I am interested in it and am researching it more. In the Old Testament (Exodus and Deuteronomy), for example, the Mosaic Law says that one can lend money, but to the poor it must be lent without interest. And at the end of every seven years all debts were to be cancelled. Yet Moses also taught in Deuteronomy 15, "If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be." We also see many times throughout the wisdom of Proverbs that God blesses the generous: "He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor" (22:9).

     In the New Testament, we see Jesus teaches about giving without expecting anything back. In Luke 6 He says, “Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods, do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you?... Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful." 

     That line of thought is contrary to the mainstream culture, no? But imagine if whenever I were in need, someone helped me without asking for a return. And then I in turn did the same. I wouldn't have to worry about being able to pay someone back, or receiving my full payments back. Borrowers wouldn't be slaves to lenders (Prov 22:7). I believe this is a way that we can love our neighbor as ourselves. We could give freely and receive freely, knowing that God is the one who gives us the power to get wealth, He is the one who sends poverty and wealth (Deut. 8:18, 1 Sam. 2:7, Job 1:21).

     So at the end of the day, when I feel overwhelmed and/or tired of requests for things or money, I need to remember that it is a blessing to both give and receive, but it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35)