Are we required to Like our neighbor

It is easy to love the likeable, but how about our concern, commitment and sacrificial love for the unlikable. There is a good line in the play "A child is waiting" when a care giver is berated by someone. The person who was disparaged starts to complain to the Doctor in Charge, but he stops the complainer in their tracks. He asks, "Did you not recognize a call for help when you hear it?

 

Mark 12:30 and 31 must be taken together:

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these"

As these are "Commandments" from the Lord, it is not optional, regardless of the circumstances. verse 31 is from Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD". the context is very interesting.

 

Can we love if we do not like?

Maybe the inconsiderate bad neighbor is God's sign to move? Or, approach that neighbor and kindly ask them to be more considerate. They could be lonely and that's how they get attention.

Proverbs 3:29

Or, maybe, given in Jesus times Jews living in community were neighbors one to another, and therein loving ones neighbor was a reference to holding love for ones fellow Jew. Or, Christian.
Maybe the edict doesn't apt to non-Jews or non-Christians? Especially one that is inconsiderate of those around them.

 

I think we have all had "trying neighbors". We may have to like or even show love for them, as in concern for their eternal future, but that does not IMHO mean we have to deal with them. We do not have to jump into their circle of anger. In other words do not react to their rude behavior.

 

People like that are usually just looking for attention, so the last thing you want to give them is that. If they have no moral compass you cannot appeal to their better nature.
So to answer your first question "are we required to like our neighbors". As I told my granddaughter "I will always love you, but I might not always like you"
We are to love them as a child of God but we do not have to like them as a neighbor.

 

What would you suggest?

 

Salty that is what I said "love them as a child of God" but that does not mean love them no matter what. If you accept their behavior then you are just praying them into hell. I think you should rethink what "Tough Love" is. It does not mean we change but that the other person changes or they have to deal with the consequences.
Example If I had a son that was on drugs and was stealing from us I would pray for him to get off the drugs and turn his life around but I would also tell him he was out of our lives until he does so. That is tough love. Doing anything else is just enabling the child.

 

Salty you say that could be "Tough Love", I agree. That is what i said. Loving them as a child of God does not mean you have to accept bad behavior. That just enables the bad behavior. Pray for them "Yes" like what they do "No".

 

In short, yes imo.

It’s possible to not like someone yet still show them love in that one is kind to them, is humble in interaction, and prays with them or for them behind closed doors.

E.g. An intervention for someone that is addicted to drugs. At that point I doubt the people involved in the intervention isn’t liking the addict and the behavior all that much at that point, but (tough) love is shown by no longer continuing to enable that behavior or continuing to have contact, etc.

 

I realized after my post in fully reading the rest of the posts that this example had been already been used here.

 

We had a neighbor like that but the neighborhood got rid of them... Now to our neighbors during the pandemic... The family that now lives next door to us is a Christian man, with a family of four... Who came to our door and offered to help us during the Covid-19 crisis and went to the store and brought us groceries... We could call him at anytime, if we needed anything and left us his number... The man and his wife on the other side of us, also offered to help and when the Christian man was either at work or with his family the other one and his wife stepped in, when he was not available... Then their is the young Asian couple, with two grown kids, across the street, who own a restaurant, the woman would bring us food... It seems in their culture that some are taught respect the older folk more, than others... Then the church also pitched in and I will surely not forget family... We will never be able to pay back all the kindness we have been shown but we know that no matter what the motive, it was the Lord that provided... Now who's my neighbor?... Brother Glen

 

Romans 12:18

 

Romans 12:18 "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."
We should make the effort to like our neighbor but that doesn't always work. Acting/serving in Christian love can allow God to work in another's life but with some people we will be met with contempt. We must not react in kind.