While I've heard, read, & studied The Good Samaritan many times in my life it has just struck me differently this time. In that I'm asking myself, which person in this story am I? I mean come on, that's a fairly important question I should ask myself & I don't think I'm asking it often enough. I guess what gets me pondering is that the priest & the Levite who leave the injured man have what could be considered, when looked at in a certain light, "good excuses" They were temple leaders, they were not supposed to touch an unclean thing, the man could be dead, or could have died while being cared for. The Levite & Priest might have justified that they were being a good example, a good leader, by being very careful to obey the law. The man who did help had to hire medical care, maybe they thought they didn't have the finances, or that if they did help he could die anyway & then they've wasted God's money.
Now clearly these are nothing but excuses, yet I feel that it just all sounds a little familiar. It just leaves me thinking about those in need around me & what kind of compassion do I show, what kind of help do I give, how am going out of my way for others. I know that the church is failing in this area, because we don't even take care of those who choose to be missionaries. These men & women want to carry the Gospel to the mission field but often can't get started on their mission because they don't have the money to go. I went to a church in the past once where they raised all this money, thousands of dollars & then used to landscape the church. Meanwhile there were missionaries unable to share the Gospel & people dying & going to Hell. But hey, our church building looked pretty & when people walked or drove past they were impressed with us. The problem doesn't only lie with the churches, but with individuals, I spend a lot of money on Starbucks, imagine if I sent that to a missionary.
In the end our lack of empathy, I think, is due to pride. This Quiet Time really effected me & I'm trying to think of ways that I can be more like the Samaritan & less like the priest & the Levite. I think I will start with more prayer for others. What are some ways that you are a Good Samaritan?
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This is a good blog. Remember Jesus said, "it is good to do kindness on the Sabbath. Now what this means is that sometimes commandments can be diviated from to do good so the ceremonial cleaness of the priest and the Levite is not a good reason to not help the Samaritan.
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