Love Your Neighbor – Proverbs 3:28-35

We have the best neighbors.  They are uniformly friendly, have integrity, and are trustworthy.  One of my neighbors helped me take down and dispose of a dead tree in my yard.  That’s a neighbor!  We often ask each other to get our mail when we’re on vacation (much easier than asking the Post Office to hold our mail).  Wisdom (righteousness) is evident in the kind of neighbor you are.

Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.  Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you.  Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.  Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence.

The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.  Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.  The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. (Proverbs 3:28-35, ESV)

After an encouragement concerning the benefits of wisdom in verses 21-27, Solomon turns to specific moral choices a wise person should make.  How might these guide us today?

• Don’t withhold good from or plan evil towards your neighbor.  Loving our neighbor can take indirect forms.  Though we might think of loving neighbors in positive action ways, here the focus is on responding generously to our neighbor when he has a need, assuming, that is, that we have the means to meet the need.  And it certainly means not taking advantage of a neighbor’s trust to harm him for personal gain.
• Don’t be contentious for no reason.  I rarely post opinions on Facebook because it is breeding ground for contention for no reason.  Why do we need to attack a person’s viewpoint and them just because we disagree?  Are they doing us harm?
• Don’t envy the violent.  Violence and deceit go hand in hand.  The violent look for advantage by getting someone’s trust before they thrust their sword in their gut.  Envy would come, presumably, from the financial gain they make from their violence.  But wicked people are an abomination to Yahweh, are under His curse, are scorned by Him and inherit disgrace.  If you want to envy someone, envy the righteous, whom God blesses, gives favor to and causes to inherit honor.

Lord, would you make me a good neighbor?  Would you make me trustworthy, kind, agreeable, sensitive and generous?  That’s the kind of neighbors I would like around me, so make me that kind of neighbor to them.