Love Your Neighbour

Christians should be active in the world. This does include getting involved in politics. However, we should not allow politics to take over from our wider Christian witness.

By Kimberly Ross

The Good Samaritan by Balthasar van Cortbemde. (Public Domain)

In recent years, public discourse in the United States of America has steadily grown more toxic. This transformation can be traced not only to the popular use of social media, but the sad secular religion known as politics. Devotion to one of the major political parties has become so entangled with devotion to God that the two can sometimes become difficult to separate. This greatly damages Christian witness.  

As an American who writes political commentary on a weekly basis, I've seen this first-hand. And as a Christian, I am acutely aware of the temptation to blend secular, political life with one's own faith. There is certainly nothing wrong with allowing faith to impact life outside the doors of the church. This should be the default setting for all Christians. The doors to the mission field open outward, away from the literal safety and security of the pew. In American Christianity, the comfort and privilege we collectively experience has allowed so much else to seep in.  

Given the never-ending turmoil nationally and internationally, there exists the idea that it is possible for political liberators to right all earthly wrongs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each elected official is as flawed and swayed by selfish ambition as the people they serve. To believe purity and justice is all that invades the hearts of politicians is to be willfully blind. Yet, politicians of all persuasions are often seen as the ones who will bring lasting peace and prosperity. Each time, constituents are left disappointed.  

With allegiance to political parties and partisan policies at an all-time high, there is a tendency to strongly dislike and/or distrust the opposition. After all, they are collectively seen as inhibiting desired change and renewal. In the midst of this, we often forget to love others. But in Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus very clearly commanded what we are to do: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself." 

The commandment to love God is as free, easy, and unencumbered as a charge can come. In that exchange, we are the undeserving recipients who receive "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." God's grace in sending His Son to take our sins upon himself on the cross means we are gifted the ultimate reward. Loving God the Father can and should be our response. The second commandment of "love your neighbour as yourself" is one we know but find difficult to practice.  

From my vantage point, I see Americans in general, and those in the church, cocooned from cares faced by so many around the world. In our plenty, we have become focused on disagreeing with the differences of our neighbours, who hold personal or political beliefs we do not share. Instead of loving them as we have been told to do, we often place our neighbours in categories based on temporal matters. 

Loving our neighbour does not come with conditions. Our neighbour is not required to look, act, believe, think, or speak like us before they are loved by us. Our neighbour also need not be aligned with our favourite political party. The commandment to "love your neighbour" is where faith meets reality. We may find ourselves unwilling or unable to fulfil such a directive. Our internal thoughts and desires can muddy the waters. However, this commandment isn't far down the list. It's actually the second commandment. It is not a mistake that immediately after reminding us to love God, we are told to love each other. 

This world contains a multitude of diversions. We are pulled in many directions as our responsibilities dictate. In the mire of all that is earthly, we can become fixated on how we diverge from our neighbours and forget our similarities. Most of all, we are joined by the fact that we are loved by our Heavenly Father. We are to show love to others not only because we're commanded, but because of what we've been given.