The angry neighbor

No Word of God is useless. No teaching of the Bible is devoid of practical value. Even the minutest laws of the Old Testament, those that functioned as “tutors” before Christ came (Galatians 3:23-24), contain helpful principles for us as we live by faith.

A couple of examples: Instructions in Deuteronomy 22:8 to build a guardrail on one’s roof so that no one would fall off it speak to us of the need to be careful with other people’s lives and God’s command to the loaded-for-bear Laban in a dream, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad” (Genesis 31:24), shows us that God is concerned with the smallest utterances that come out of our mouths.

The whole counsel of God is good for teaching and correcting and rebuking and training us.

There is a Christian woman in my neighborhood who is angry with me. She has emailed volumes expressing it. I have asked her for peace—in emails, in texts, and in a note delivered to her door. She will have none of it. At this point I do not know what to do.

Here is where the flesh comes in with its unhelpful suggestions about how to deal with this. But the Word of God forbids going along with the flesh’s promptings:

“But do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

The very next verse tells us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” which is a command that takes more than two seconds’ reflection. One has to think about how one would want to be dealt with were the shoe on the other foot. Some answers that come to mind: with mercy, with leniency, with more than superficial understanding of where they’re coming from, with regard for the other person’s growth in Christ.

Jesus once commanded His disciples, “You, therefore, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Never was there a more tortured and manhandled verse in the Bible, as people try to wriggle out of the force of its requirement. But Jesus was in the middle of talking about dealing with neighbors. He was exhorting His followers to better than the usual worldly way of handling neighbor situations. His command was not pie-in-the-sky, but one that cuts into the hard stuff of life.

I will be thinking twice and three times about what to do, if anything, in the case of my neighbor. Does it rise to the level of calling in other witnesses? I think not. Should I make no reply at all to these latest character attacks? That may be best.

No wonder the Apostle Paul says to put to death the desires of the flesh (Colossians 3:5). Anyone who ever lives that way on a regular basis can tell you that it feels like dying.