Love Your Neighbour As Yourself
- Leviticus 19:9-10
I was in Leviticus 19 this week for devotions, and it focused a lot on the call to holiness as well as the statutes given to the people of Israel about loving their neighbour as themselves. As I read and reflected throughout the week, I really enjoyed these two verses (v.9-10). The LORD tells the Israelites to leave a margin of harvest, to not reap and pick up every last bit for themselves, to leave some for the poor and the sojourner, and it's not just the scraps either! What an act of compassion we are to show to those in need!
It got me thinking, what is our harvest nowadays? How does this translate to our modern context? I think examples such as our money, as well as our time, can all be parallels to the harvest in the passage. Firstly, we must recognize that all that we have is a gift given from God, the hours in our day, the jobs we work, none of it is ours, but we are only stewards of these good gifts. With these gifts that have been handed to us from God, let us not be collecting up every last nickel, or every last minute for ourselves, but rather use them to show grace and compassion to those in need. Sitting down to listen to one share their struggles and burdens, or buying a stressed co-worker a coffee, all little acts we can do to show God's love to our neighbours.
What is your harvest that you need to leave for the poor and the sojourner? Is there any part of your life that you have kept a bit too closely? How can we be using our harvest to bear personal and faithful witness to those around us? It really is a call to a life of sacrifice, learning to see and consider others before ourselves.
"when a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
- Leviticus 19:33-34
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