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When we think of loving our neighbor, it is easy to think of our actual neighbors, coworkers, and people we may see on a regular basis. However, loving our neighbor also means loving our community.
We may think of our child’s school as just a place of education. Or the local cleaners as a place to drop off clothes. But these are community buildings filled with people we’ve been commanded to love. When we choose to support our local businesses, local charities, and local government, we are funding and feeding the very people who provide service that keeps the community running and alive.
Deuteronomy 14:27-19 (NIV) And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own. At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
In Deuteronomy 14:27–29 The Lord tells Israel to make sure they do not neglect the Levites. Who live in the same city as them. This is especially important because the Levites don’t have an inheritance. Here we see that God is providing a way for the Levite to live and survive through the hands of other people. These two groups may not have known each other personally, yet are connected through the law of the Lord.
The Levites provided a great service that affected the people of Israel. And the Israelites cared for the Levites’ physical needs through their blessing from God. God gave the same command when it came to the orphans, widows, and foreigners that lived among the Israelites.
These particular groups were taken care of by God through the Israelite community. Which shows us that it is God’s desire that we work together to care for all those in our community, and especially those who cannot care for themselves and those on the margins.
When you live in a community that strives to be in one accord, you can experience a great cyclical protection and provision. Giving and taking, and protection and serving all become a normal way of life. We are blessed with what we have in order to be a blessing to others. If our communities and our cities are going to be healthy and prosperous then it must be a community effort to take care of one another.
If you have small children, chances are you’ve seen the Disney movie Coco. In the movie, a little boy Miguel Is on a quest to restore music to his family. Unfortunately his family needs him to work to help with the finances, so he shines shoes in the city. And as he is on his way into the city one day, he pays for a biscuit. Then gives the biscuit to a stray dog that he continues to take care of throughout the movie.
Even in the hardships this young boy notices how blessed he is, when confronted with a starving stray dog who is trying to find food in a trash can. Not only does Miguel feed him the biscuit, he continues to help the dog and they become life-long friends.
Isn’t that how we should be? When we are blessed with good things, we can be a blessing to others, and especially those who can’t care for themselves.
This Is Our Community.