Your Mission Field Next Door

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." — 1 Peter 4:8
 
Have you ever wished you knew your neighbors before you bought your house?
 
Maybe God put you right where you are on purpose. Maybe, just maybe, that difficult neighbor is God's gift to you to knock off some edges in your life that don't look like Jesus. And maybe, just maybe, that's your mission field.
 
You see, God wants you to learn to love people who are not like you. He wants you to connect with people outside your comfort zone. Your life is going to be really boring if you only hang around with the very same people you've always hung around with.
 
I like hanging around people who play golf. I like hanging around people who shoot things and eat things that they shoot. I like hanging around people who fish. Those are my people. But guess what? I need to have other friends who are different from me, even friends who crochet. Because God uses all kinds of people to shape us into the image of His Son.
 
So, look around at where God has placed you. That neighborhood. That workplace. That gym. Those people aren't accidents. They're assignments.
 
And the way you love them, even when it's inconvenient, even when they're difficult, might just be the thing that opens their heart to Jesus. Show them what it means to love like Jesus loves.