| Love thy neighbour |
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In August of 2007, father-of-three, Gary Newlove, confronted a gang in Warrington who were acting irresponsibly and were a threat to the area. He confronted them, not out of hate or anger, but in love – the love of doing right, the love of living in a safe neighbourhood, and the love of raising a family in a world of terror and strife. For this act, Mr Newlove was the victim of a hideous and brutal attack which tragically cost him his life. The reasons for such a crime are unclear, but what is clear is the fact that to distinguish how to effectively love and forgive our neighbour is becoming increasingly difficult. In recent history, crimes committed by individuals usually have been preceded by past acts of immorality, showing that signs of change after previous arrests have not been effective. As well as that, past endeavours of released convicts – from paedophiles to murderers – are now brought up at every account as if , while they are declared fit to enter society by criminal institutes, the risk of them being a threat will always remain. This was evident when minister Joyce Meyer, hired Richard Leroy Jones as a pastor for her ministry; when information about his past life was revealed in the media, the working relationship between the two abruptly ended. As Christians who are looked upon to stand up for God's love and standards, we must go to the instructions prescribed in the Bible when faced with how to forgive our fellow neighbour. While institutions such as prisons go by a different means to deem one as being fit to enter back into society , we must go by the Word to tell us how we should treat others – and that is, to extend God's love and grace to them, regardless of what they have done. For as Christians, we know that we are guilty of many offences against God, but He has chosen to forgive and love us. And this empowers us to see past people's own wrongdoings and show them the love of Christ, so that they might be reconciled to God. Now, as the number of tragedies like the case of Mr Newlove continues to mount, what should be learnt is that we are under no obligation to put our trust in these people or allow them access to our lives, for we need to be wary of naïvety. But we are still called to love, and this love is to be wise. And so we need to learn how to do discern between loving our neighbour wisely and effectively, and loving them naively – motivated by God's love, and empowered by His grace.                Comments (0)
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Words: Henry Yanney 
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