Tag: Neighbors

Help – Romans 15:1-7

Being completely transparent, this passage hit me differently than some others. I spend a lot of my time and energy focused on helping the people around me. That feels like the right thing but at times it’s exhausting, and I wonder if my own needs and desires are just going to keep sitting on the back burner indefinitely. It can get discouraging.

Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.  – Romans 15:2 (HCSB)

Paul makes a pretty straightforward argument here. Those of us who are strong and who have been given gifts (stability, faith, resources, etc.), aren’t supposed to use those things just for ourselves. We’re supposed to use them for the people around us, especially those who are weaker or struggling. He points to Jesus as the example. Jesus didn’t come to please himself but poured everything he had out for people who had nothing to offer him in return. That’s our model.

Then Paul does something interesting. He points his readers back to the Old Testament and reminds them that those scriptures weren’t written just as a history of God and his people. They were written to teach, to build endurance, and to encourage. God knew his people would need fuel for the long haul. The Word isn’t just information, it’s sustenance for people who are in the middle of doing hard things for a long time.

Being completely transparent, this passage hit me differently than some others. I spend a lot of my time and energy focused on helping the people around me. That feels like the right thing but at times it’s exhausting, and I wonder if my own needs and desires are just going to keep sitting on the back burner indefinitely. It can get discouraging.

Sometimes the Word of God convicts. Sometimes it redirects. But sometimes it confirms that you’re on the right track and gives you what you need to keep going. That’s what this passage did for me today. Paul’s prayer at the end of this section felt very personal, like it was written for someone who needed to hear that God sees what they’re doing and has good things ahead for them.

Let the scriptures do what Paul says they do, build endurance and encouragement for the road ahead. God is not unaware of what it all costs, and he is not going to leave us empty-handed. That doesn’t mean that he’ll make us rich, but it does mean that we are building the type of character that God wants in his people, and he’ll use that for his glory.

Freedom? – Galatians 5:13-18

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” — Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

Earlier in Galatians 5, Paul is dealing with a real problem in the early church. There were people telling new Christians that following Jesus also meant following all the old Jewish laws and rituals. Paul pushes back hard on that. ‘You have been set free,’ he says. ‘You don’t live under that anymore.’ But then he immediately pumps the brakes on where that logic could go, because freedom from the Law doesn’t mean freedom to live however you want. It means something better than that.

The freedom Paul is talking about has a direction to it. It points outward, toward the people around you. Instead of using your freedom to chase whatever feels good in the moment, you use it to love the people God has put in your life. Radically, humbly, in ways that don’t always make sense to the world around you. That’s the calling. Paul is clear that the Holy Spirit is what produces that kind of love in us. It doesn’t come naturally on its own.

There’s a real tension in this for me personally. On one hand, I know what it means to be freed from sin and given new life. On the other hand, I don’t always live like that freedom has anything to do with the people around me. The call to radical love can feel heavy, or honestly, it can feel intimidating. There are people God puts in my path every single day, and too often I hesitate. Not because I don’t care, but because there’s a quiet fear that gets in the way.

That’s the thing though, fear doesn’t belong to someone who has been set free. Paul isn’t describing a timid, heads-down kind of Christianity. He’s describing people who are so secure in what God has done for them that they can turn around and pour that out on others without worrying about what it costs them. The freedom we have in Christ is actually freedom over that fear too.

So this week I want to keep my eyes open. Not in a forced or awkward way, but just paying attention to the people God has already placed around me and actually engaging with them. The opportunities are probably already there. I just need to stop hesitating and start showing up.