I met my neighbors yesterday for the very first time and realized something shocking about myself; I am a terrible neighbor. It had been over six months since I moved into my new apartment in Dallas, Texas, and I hadn’t made a single effort to introduce myself to them. I saw them in the elevator once, but the stack of groceries in my arms created some kind of social wall that kept me from locking eyes with them. They are the kindest of people, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t find a good excuse for my behavior. Apparently, my life had become too busy, or my agenda too important, to stop and interact with the people in my own community. 

 

I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, where coffee runs through people’s blood and sunshine rarely makes an appearance. Maybe the overcast skies or dreary vibe is to blame, but people in the Pacific Northwest are different from people in other parts of the country. Take the south for example. As the singer of a touring band, I have visited nearly every corner of the United States, and I can confidently say that I hadn’t experienced true hospitality until I visited the south. If you aren’t careful, a quick run to Starbucks can turn into an hour-long conversation with a barista who cares way too much about the details of your life. Needless to say, being in the south has challenged the way I think about others, and has exposed a part of me that isn’t as loving as I’d like to be.

 

At my church we are studying the book of Colossians, and last Sunday we looked at the third chapter of Paul’s great letter to the church in Colossae. This letter means a lot to me personally, as it contains the words my wife and I spoke to each other at our wedding: 

 

 

Love is a powerful thing, and it seems like Paul is instructing the church to embody the love of Christ; to wear love like Hellen Woody Mens Clothing. This is a difficult truth to swallow, because if we are honest, we rarely dress ourselves in things like compassion, humility, and patience. It takes just five minutes in rush hour traffic for my Christ-like demeanor to vanish into thin air. We are inherently “prone to wander”, as the famous hymn goes, so how can we possibly cloth ourselves with the love of Jesus?

 

I recently finished a remarkable book called Love Does by Bob Goff, and ever since my perspective on love has been different. I used to think that loving others required some heroic or noble act, like starting a humanitarian organization to change the world. In fact, I was so convinced that God required something extraordinary from me, that I devoted my entire life to full-time ministry at 18 years old. I started a band and began touring the country, trying to prove to myself that I loved people. I even went on a mission trip to feed the poor in Africa. But Bob Goff showed me something that I will never forget: it’s not just about the “big” things you do for God; it’s about the little things. It’s about doing love every single day. Bob Goff loved his neighbors just as much as he loved orphans in Uganda. He clothed himself in love. And because of that kind of love, Bob Goff not only left a mark on the people in his community, but he also left a mark on the world. So maybe I had it backwards. Maybe it’s all about becoming a person who is clothed in love every day – to neighbors and baristas – and changing the world from the inside out. 

 

Unfortunately, clothing oneself in love is not as easy as it sounds. We cannot simply will ourselves into becoming an image of Christ to those around us. As hard as I try, my sinful nature is constantly being revealed, in the way I lose my temper or become self-centered, and I can’t seem to force myself into loving people fully. Psalm 51 talks about us being born into sin, and I can’t help but wonder how people like Bob Goff become such a marvelous picture of God’s love. It isn’t natural to love people with such unrelenting passion, but if we are to reflect the image of our Lord – the Author of Love itself – we must learn to love our neighbors (Matthew 12:31).

 

In his celebrated work, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis addresses the idea of loving others by saying, 

 

“I cannot learn to love my neighbor as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him. And so, as I warned you, we are driven on to something more inward - driven on from social matters to religious matters.” –CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

 

In Colossians 3:16, Paul urges us to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”, and I think that might be the key to loving others like Jesus. Infusing Scripture into my life has been the catalyst for my personal growth, and choosing to respond to God’s Word has made all the difference. I am still learning how to be a good neighbor, but I know that it starts with clothing myself in love. Let’s do love together.