Question to consider this week: What is your capacity to be the kind of neighbor that Jesus asks you to be?
Perhaps you have an easier time identifying your flaws than your greatest qualities - me too. You and I are each imperfect people living in a world that values flawlessness. We can thank God, literally, that God sees our imperfections as opportunities for growth and loves us all the more in our attempts to be better. We each have things that make us feel unqualified for the work of neighboring, but the Holy Spirit is prepared to intercede on our behalf:
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27, NRSV)
You might’ve told yourself any one of the following excuses as to why you’re not qualified to be a good neighbor:
“I’m too _______.”
“I’m not _______.”
“I’ve done _______.” The list goes on.
In bringing yourself to the Holy Spirit in prayer, she whispers back to each of those excuses, “You are enough. You are enough. You are enough.”
When you’re considering your capacity for being a good neighbor, don’t look at yourself through your own eyes, look at yourself through the eyes of God. You are a perfectly imperfect child of God. God isn’t asking you to be perfect; God knows you will stumble more times that you care to admit. God is asking you to give of yourself to the best of your ability each day, and with the help of the Holy Spirit through prayer, you will begin to increase your neighbor capacity. As you lay your weaknesses before the Holy Spirit in prayer, she will begin to transform your heart to help you be the kind of neighbor that Jesus is asking you to be.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, with your guidance I know I can be and do better. May your loving voice be louder than the voices in my head that tell me I’m not enough. Help me to love myself well so that I can love my neighbors well. I am committed to this journey of growth through imperfection so that myself and those around me might know you more deeply. Thank you for holding me close in this uncomfortable process of laying my flaws before you. Amen.
Written By: Jenny Spidell