What Loving My Neighbors Looks Like: A Journey From Greed to Gratitude
When God nudged me to love my neighbors–my actual neighbors, the people living right next door–it sounded fun at first. I felt the Lord was leading me to teach a neighborhood Bible study in my home. I was going to call it “The Rosewood Café” since I lived on Rosewood Drive, and sketched a cute little logo in my journal. I envisioned friends laughing over coffee, Bibles spread open on my kitchen table.
Then I realized I had never led a Bible study, let alone written or taught one . . . and then there was the eensy-weensy obstacle that I didn’t even know my neighbors.
I thought I didn’t have time for my neighbors
Excuses quickly piled up and overcame these strange ideas that had started to creep in. “I don’t have time to go talk to my neighbors, make friends, invite them into my home, and figure out what we’re going to talk about!” I reasoned, “God has blessed me with a good job, a busy family, and responsibilities at church. This must be what He wants me to focus on for this season of my life.”
When I argued that I didn’t have time, God showed me who was really in control of my calendar. Over the next few months my work became fraught with setbacks and struggles that felt overwhelming. At home, I couldn’t keep my house clean or get dinner on the table. I couldn’t go to family get-togethers and missed out on girlfriend time because of pressing chores or deadlines, and wasn’t able to volunteer at church or our daughter’s school like I wanted.
Even worse, my worship became dry and personal time with God was practically nonexistent. In utter frustration, I shook my fist at God and demanded to know why He seemed so far away. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard Your voice!” I pouted. “The last thing I even remember You saying to me was something about that neighborhood . . . Bible… study . . .” as my disobedience slowly dawned on me.
Naming my own greed
In His kindness, God convicted me of being greedy with my time. Greediness is the exact opposite of gratitude, and it caused me to cling to my calendar instead of releasing it to God. Once I’d had the same attitude about tithing and financial giving, until I learned how God stretched my budget when I gratefully returned a small portion back to Him.
You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
Malachi 3:9-10 NLT
What changed when I started tithing my time
It took me a long time to make the same connection with tithing my time. To break the “curse” my stinginess had caused, I invited 89 neighbors over for coffee. Since it would be weird to jump right into Bible study, I asked them over to an Open House—just coffee and cookies and a time to get know one another.
Something amazing happened when I finally sacrificed the time to love my neighbors: God magnified each minute! I became productive, resourceful, capable, energetic, and effective again. Work eased up; the house stayed straightened. I had breathing room to visit with friends . . . and some of those friends were my neighbors!
We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.
1 Thessalonians 2:8 NLT
Strangers became friends as we gathered every other week in my home, and studying God’s Word with these women became my greatest joy. And in a miracle only God could have orchestrated, other women started these Neighborhood Cafes in their own homes all around the world!
The natural expression of gratitude is sacrifice, whether it be money or time. When we are grateful for God’s gifts, we return to Him what is His—and He lavishes us with blessings we could never have imagined.
Meet Amy Lively
Amy’s passion is teaching God’s Word as a “How To” manual for loving Him and loving others. She learned to explain complex theology in simple, relatable terms by inviting neighbors of all ages and faith backgrounds to a women’s Bible study in her home, and this crazy idea of knocking on neighbors’ doors grew into an international ministry called The Neighborhood Café. Amy is the author of How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird and is currently writing Hope Fully: How to Turn Uncertain Times into a Surprisingly Hopeful New Normal based on 1 Peter.
Where to find her . . .
Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.
If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.
Creating Ripples
If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.
