During His public ministry here on earth, the Lord Jesus saw thousands of men, women, youth and children. He saw them with gracious, loving eyes. He still does. Does Jesus have any other way of seeing us? Yes, if someone is a hypocrite, he or she better get ready for harsh rebukes and public shame. Nothing’s off the table until He turns around a hypocrite.

Jesus Himself certainly wasn’t a hypocrite. He didn’t just say walk a second mile. He had done it. Jesus didn’t just say turn the other cheek. He had been slapped. Hard. 

Jesus said, “I can do only what I see my Father doing.” He also said, “My Father is always at work.” In our lives. In our neighbors’ lives. Yes, the Lord already is at work in the lives of our neighbors. And He invites us to join Him...in many different and sometimes unexpected ways.

These sometimes surprising, even counterintuitive ways open us up to the Holy Spirit’s leading to be more than a “nice, loving Christian neighbor.” While “loving Christian” is essential, “nice” definitely is not a big enough word for what the Lord Jesus had in mind for the 1st and 21st centuries. Imagine the possibilities of what God would do through you.        

This is Luis Palau.