Apr
26
Written by:
CBF Personnel/Partner
4/26/2010 10:48 PM
Read Luke 10:25-37.
We glean so many lessons from this parable, but let’s focus on the lesson of doing. To a certain extent the expert in the law was right. Much of following God is about doing. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Yet, we see when he answers Jesus’ query about what is written in the law, the expert knows it is more about being. In the story of the Good Samaritan Jesus forces us to test ‘the being’ with ‘the doing’. The man lying on the road is not a man who would have been ignored in other circumstances. He had money, he was decently dressed, and he was Jewish. One incident in which he was victimized changed his outward appearance to the point that other refused to do. Refusing to do is ignoring.
The priest and the Levite saw the man. The priest and the Levite recognized the man’s needs. The story implies that the priest and the Levite had the means to meet these needs. The priest and the Levite in weighing the cost chose to walk on the other side of the road. They chose to ignore. There are many victims in today’s world. There are victims of war and politics, of economics, of racial prejudice, of tragedies and disasters, of violence, of irrational hate, of misunderstandings, etc. Sadly, we see these victims and chose to ignore them. These victims are clearly seen in our living rooms as we watch world and local events unfold before us on our television screen. These victims are seen in our children’s schools and in our communities. These victims are even seen in our churches. Yet we choose to ignore.
We are all about doing as long as we can choose what we will do. As soon as God asks us to do something that will demonstrate true love for him and our neighbor the cost becomes too great and we walk on the other side of the road.
What if there had not been a Good Samaritan in Jesus’ story? What if not one had seen to this victim’s immediate needs and arranged for more long term needs? What if not one had demonstrated in a real way what it means to “love the Lord your God…?” Know why there are so many neglected people in the world who are defeated and demoralized? Because we as Christians have chosen to ignore them.
Question: Who is in your path and needs you to demonstrate the love of God today?
Tags:
1 comment(s) so far...
Re: The Lesson of Doing by Nell Green, CBF Field Personnel
My mother needed special care for many years in a skilled nursing home. After she went to be with the Lord, I KNEW God would never ask me to even visit someone in a nursing home.
Then came the day. I knew the Lord meant me to be the answer to a request by a nearby nursing home's activities director for a Bible study on a weekday.
I've been going now for several years - to a nursing home. IF I HAD ignored the Lord (he didn't ask--he told me to go--he knew my faint heart) I would have missed the blessing I receive each week on Wed morning.
After sharing the well loved hymns on piano - they sing, smile, clap, move a little or sleep - I am privileged to share JESUS as he walked the earth, day by day using The Narrative Bible compiled by F. LeGard Smith. This is perhaps the last opportunity for some people to know Jesus. I'll never know until heaven because they are asked to pray to belong to the Lord - not raise a hand.
Prayer - YES! what the Spirit has taught me! Through Campanions in Christ I heard the words about not telling God how to fix IT. I mostly pray for God's blessing on the person or situation through the day. Through the day the Lord calls my attention to people as I'm out and about. Always I'm called to bless the 'siren people' who are police or ambulance on a nearby busy street. The Lord reminds me to pray for the waitress, the cooks and the people who clean up when my husband and I are at a restaurant. Then the Spirit always makes sure I 'see' the families - or the parent alone with a child - or the older one at the grocery store. Then there is the newspaper and the TV - so much to pray about. The phrase - pray without ceasing has great meaning as I
pray through the day and the Lord is with me.
At the nursing home, my friends can pray when the Spirit gives them a face, a name or seeing the need of someone there with pain - to ask the Lord to bless them and always add -- their family. What a wonderful thing to see the delight of long time Christians as they contemplate their importance in being part of the Lord's work in prayer - and the new believer who knows the importance of serving the Lord in prayer.
After our Jesus sharing, others come in getting ready for lunch. During this time I share some more piano. WHAT a blessing - no one ever seems to hear or be offended by my piano clinkers. Then before leaving I go to each person with a touch - thanking the people who have come and inviting the people who haven't come to join us next week.
What JOY because the Lord TOLD me to go to a nursing home. God is good... in all things.
By Pat Trautwein on
6/12/2010 1:23 PM
|
|
|