“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 9:18

“I’m packing heat. So give me a call if anything happens.”

My new Christian vigilante neighbor said goodbye, turned and walked back to his house. It was several years ago and our family had just moved into a new home. “Fred” had come over to introduce himself. During the first, and what would be my only, conversation with him during the six years we lived near each other, he mentioned that he was a Christian and attended a church nearby.

And then, before he finished by appointing himself the block sheriff, Fred informed me that he didn’t interact much with his neighbors because he didn’t want to participate in the “community gossip.”

Sure enough, Fred and his wife kept to themselves the entire time we lived there. Since he worked from home, the only time I saw him was when he and his wife backed their car out of their garage on Sunday mornings, evenings, and Wednesday evenings to go to church.

I imagine Fred’s fellow church members saw him as an upstanding and committed Christian man. But what I witnessed was an aloof and uncaring Christian neighbor who had absolutely no regard for the second greatest commandment in the Word of God.

My experience with Fred makes me wonder how many millions of Christians are perceived this way by their neighbors. Yes, they don’t make any trouble. They maintain their yards. They go to church regularly. But do their neighbors feel deeply loved by them?

I don’t know about you, but I have made it my goal to not be like Fred. I want my neighbors to feel loved by me like they have never been loved by a neighbor before. I want them to know that I am here to be their friend, to listen to them, to know them, to serve them, and to share Jesus with them.

Because I’m packing heat too. And, like Fred, my neighbors can call me anytime. But my heat is the love of Christ.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.