Love Your Neighbor Through Your Work

I have spent the better part of my adult life wanting to do something “big” for the Lord. When I worked in an office setting, I believed that unless it was ministry or evangelism, I wasn’t changing the world for Christ. Jesus’ call to love our neighbors motivated me to find my neighbor and love him or her all the way to salvation. While my desire to understand “my neighbor” in a certain way wasn’t the same as the man in Luke 10, I still had a distorted understanding of what it means to love my neighbor.

Faithfulness isn’t always radical and grandiose. We’ve all been given neighbors to love; we just need eyes to see them. In the work of the home, we can spend our days wondering who our neighbor is—when that neighbor we are called to serve is actually standing right in front of us asking for another cup of milk.

Martin Luther is known for the idea that embracing our vocation (our work) is a way to love our neighbors. Another way of seeing this is that loving our neighbors is integrally tied to our work. We love the world that God has made through our work. In this sense, there is no sacred/secular divide. If work is God’s good gift to us, then it serves a purpose in our desire to love our neighbors.

In the work of the home, your neighbors are the people who fill your home. They are the friends who come for dinner and are in need of advice and companionship. Your neighbors are family members who need near constant care because of an illness. Your children who need fresh clothes, a warm meal, and unconditional love are your neighbors. Your husband who needs to know you care about him is your neighbor. Your neighbor is the young mom at church who needs a hot meal and someone to hold her baby. These are all neighbors, recipients of your love and your work.

You might not be like the expert in the law, questioning who your neighbor is because you want to do the bare minimum. But you just might wonder if you are doing enough for your neighbor because you misunderstand who your neighbor actually is. Your neighbor is anyone God places in your path, even if they are part of your very own family. Today, you can serve your neighbor in your home because you know that your work is done in love and for their good.

Courtney Reissig is a writer living in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is the author of Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God. Learn more at CourtneyReissig.com or on Twitter at @courtneyreissig.