Walking with the Wise #465: Don't Be A Pest!

“Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house;


otherwise, he’ll get sick of you and hate you.”
—Proverbs 25:17 (HCSB)

There is a wonderful little girl who lives in the house behind ours. It seems like every couple of days I hear a knock on the back door as she comes over and wants to play with my kids. In the summer, she’s over almost daily, and over so much that my children finally got annoyed. While they care for her deeply, they got so frustrated that they didn’t want to play with her, nor have her come over. It came to the point where she wore out her welcome, exasperating my girls. Unaware of the appropriate thing to say, nor aware of how to deal with the frustration building up inside of her, my oldest daughter finally erupted in a barrage of stinging insults that wounded her deeply, resulting in a phone call from her mother to us the next day.

As my wife and I were trying to process what to say to our daughters in the aftermath, we remembered this proverb and concluded that this girl was coming over too often. A little bit was good, but with her coming over every day it became way too much and my girls got sick of her. We talked to her mother and set some parameters for her coming over, and now things are great. The kids all enjoy playing with each other again.

God’s Word speaks to the entirety of the human condition, including how we interact with our neighbors. Use His wisdom to direct you as to how you might love your neighbor. Jesus desires that we love Him, and love our neighbor. But how do you love your neighbor? One of the ways, and it might sound strange, but it's true, is to make sure that you do not overstay your welcome so that you dampen your testimony. Give them space, give them time, and let God direct your steps. Amen.