I have always been fascinated by God. And yet, I believe I could have known Him far better—much more deeply—if only I had better understood what He sought to teach me each day, including through my neighbor.
At 20 years old, I was in my second year at the Adventist Theological Seminary. The previous winter, I had one of the most beautiful experiences of my life: I conducted my first series of presentations for people outside the Adventist Church. I was thrilled to witness God working both in my life and in the lives of those who attended. To me, everything that unfolded during those two weeks felt like a series of miracles. One of those miracles was deeply personal—I learned to pray for others more than for myself.
Though I didn’t fully grasp it at the time, God was leading me on a path of discovery, one I continue to walk today with the same sense of wonder. That moment marked the beginning of a series of events that helped me see God not only as my God but also as the God of my neighbor. Over time, I realized this understanding of God is both incredibly beautiful and deeply challenging.
Scripture and the care for our neighbor
In the Bible, the “neighbor” is a remarkably important figure. So important, in fact, that when God inscribed the Law with His own finger, He mentioned the neighbor twice (Exodus 20:16-17). In Hebrew the term appears over 100 times in Scripture. The primary meaning of the Hebrew word seems to encompass “friend, companion, fellow, colleague, another, the other.”
Despite this, the Jewish people have historically struggled to identify their “neighbor.” Even in Jesus’s time, some were still asking, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Today, although the term seems straightforward, we often wrestle with identifying the person Jesus called us to love as ourselves (Matthew 19:19).
At times, even the Bible seems to add to this semantic ambiguity. On one hand, it commands us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” but it also instructs the Israelites to mete out severe punishment, including death, for certain transgressors—seemingly regardless of their attitude after being caught (Deuteronomy 19:21). Similarly, in the New Testament, Paul directs the Corinthians to hand over a sinner “to Satan” (1 Corinthians 5:5).
How, then, are we to love our neighbor, and why does the path to God still lead through the doorway of this enigmatic figure?
The boundaries of love
One of the first truths I learned about God, as it relates to the neighbor, is that love involves setting boundaries. To love, from God’s perspective, is to grant the other person the freedom to say no. A few years earlier, I had come across a thought-provoking verse in Psalm 119: “To all perfection I see a limit” (Psalm 119:96). At the time, I struggled to grasp its meaning. Shouldn’t perfection, I thought, be limitless—like God? Yet reality seemed to suggest otherwise. Gradually, I began to understand that, for us to taste love and experience it fully, God chose to portion it into smaller, digestible pieces.
Despite our smallness and our blindness to reality through distorted perspectives, God respects our choices, even while loving us with “an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). In a way, the manner in which God relates to us reveals more about His character than about ours. For Him, this principle of freedom is so vital that He often permits evil to give humanity the liberty to say no.
It is important to remember, however, that in the Bible, freedom is not just about love—it is also about responsibility. The final judgment stands as evidence that humans are rational beings and, therefore, accountable for their decisions.
This is not a case of giving with one hand only to take away with the other. Rather, it is proof that when God declared humanity to be created “in his own image” (Genesis 1:27), He truly meant it. Responsibility is not a trap but another testament to His infinite love (Ecclesiastes 11:9).
My neighbor is His neighbor
God’s perspective on the world has always been infinitely greater and more complex than the understanding His children had of their surroundings. At times, He allowed rays of light to illuminate their understanding, revealing His greatness and wisdom. Although the Israelites were God’s chosen people, the Scriptures feature outsiders who demonstrated greater faith and insight than some who claimed to be His followers.
Even more striking, God spoke to the Israelites through Amos, saying: “‘Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites?’declares the Lord. ‘Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?’” (Amos 9:7). Many Old Testament prophecies addressed other nations, providing clear evidence that God was actively involved in guiding their histories in ways far beyond what some in Israel believed.
When I grasped this truth and began looking for evidence of it in people’s lives and in history, my understanding of God deepened. I began to see why the lives of those who do not seek Him are sometimes filled with pure joys, why many who do not desire Him have everything they wish for in this world, and why He hears the prayers of those who do not pray in the way I do. I saw Him as far closer to humanity than people often realize.
This realization captivated me and taught me to approach others with greater faith and concern. They are people in whose lives God is at work, just as He is in mine. Paradoxically, through this understanding, I discovered many new things about how He draws near to me.
I wish I had known at 20 that:
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My neighbor needs me
We might be tempted to think that if God is already doing so much for others, there’s little point in us doing anything. Wouldn’t we risk disrupting the good He intends to do by stepping in? Yet this is precisely where God’s purpose becomes clear. He created us to be “close” to one another. That’s why He declared at the very beginning, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). This idea finds continuation in the New Testament when Jesus selects twelve apostles so “that they might be with him” (Mark 3:14), to remain near Him.
We are placed within a vast human family, where we depend on one another and are called to love and help each other, for we are all brothers and sisters (Matthew 23:8).
God’s desire is to bless those around me through my actions and to bless me through theirs.
Ultimately, He is the one working in and through us. What we do for one another should not be a reflection of our own virtue but of His.
When humanity fell into sin, people became a curse to one another, to the point where the firstborn man became the murderer of his own brother—the one who had been his closest friend. This tragic history underscores why, when Jesus said His disciples would be recognized by their unity, He was pointing to something only He could accomplish. The defining mark of the new creation was unity—an unmistakable sign of His work.
This image of God captivates me now more than ever. In it, I see His goodness and wisdom, His love and justice, in ways I never fully grasped before. Even though I don’t yet understand this perspective entirely, it fills me with faith and hope. It gives me strength to pray and be patient, to find peace, courage, and a renewed perspective on relationships. Didn’t He say that in our interactions with “the least of these brothers and sisters” of His, we meet Him (Matthew 25:40)?
Adrian Neagu, now 45 years old, once held a much narrower view of faith. At 20, as a second-year student at the Adventist Theological Faculty, he believed that God was close only to the obedient. Over time, he has come to understand that the most profound expression of love for God is found in the love for one’s neighbor.
