夏末一場暴風雨席捲了我們居住的城市，接下來我們必須整修被樹木毀損的房子，還要清除院子裡的落葉殘枝。當我花一整天的工夫處理房屋損壞的部分和樹木殘骸，我為了讓自己開心一點，便反覆地說：「還好我們沒種樹哦！」沒錯，我們只有三棵約90公分高的小松樹。但在風雨過後，我花了許多時間清掃從鄰居家的樹上掉下來的樹枝或落葉。

鄰居。我們應如何與他們相處呢？不論他們種了什麼、做了或說了什麼，從而使我們感到困擾，聖經的教導都很清楚。聖經九次明確提到「愛人如己」，其中包括利未記19章18節、馬太福音19章19節、馬可福音12章31節、加拉太書5章14節以及雅各書2章8節。事實上，這是上帝賜給我們的第二大誡命，而最大的誡命是「你要盡心、盡性、盡力、盡意愛主你的上帝」（路加福音10章27節）。我們如何與鄰居相處，是表達愛鄰居的一種方式，雅各書教導我們：「你們各人要快快地聽，慢慢地說，慢慢地動怒。」（1章19節）

這並不容易，因為這違背我們的本性，但愛鄰居應該成為我們的第一反應。讓我們靠著上帝的幫助，發出耶穌慈愛的光芒照亮周圍的人──我們的鄰居！

After a late summer thunderstorm ripped through our city, we had to deal with tree damage to our house, plus a major cleanup of our leaf-and-branch-strewn yard. As I spent the following day dealing with the damage and the tree debris, I tried to humor myself by repeating, “We don’t have any trees!” It’s true. Other than three tiny, three-foot-tall pines, we don’t have them. Yet I spend considerable time cleaning up after storms or falling leaves due to neighbors’ trees.

Neighbors. How do we interact with them—even when something they’ve done or grown or said bothers us? Scripture is clear on this: it states “love your neighbor as yourself” nine times—including Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, Mark 12:31, Galatians 5:14, and James 2:8. In fact, this is the second greatest commandment God has given us. The first is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . soul . . . strength and . . . mind” (Luke 10:27). One of the keys to showing love to neighbors is how we interact with them. James explained this by saying, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19).

This isn’t always easy. It goes against our nature. Yet loving our neighbor is to be our first response. As God helps us, let’s shine Jesus’ light of love on those who share life with us—our neighbors.