Tag Archives: neighbor

Just help! (Luke 10:30-37) October 29, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Acts 11-12

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 10:30-37
Jesus: This fellow was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho when some robbers mugged him. They took his clothes, beat him to a pulp, and left him naked and bleeding and in critical condition. By chance, a priest was going down that same road, and when he saw the wounded man, he crossed over to the other side and passed by. Then a Levite who was on his way to assist in the temple also came and saw the victim lying there, and he too kept his distance. Then a despised Samaritan journeyed by. When he saw the fellow, he felt compassion for him. The Samaritan went over to him, stopped the bleeding, applied some first aid, and put the poor fellow on his donkey. He brought the man to an inn and cared for him through the night.
The next day, the Samaritan took out some money—two days’ wages to be exact—and paid the innkeeper, saying, “Please take care of this fellow, and if this isn’t enough, I’ll repay you next time I pass through.”
Which of these three proved himself a neighbor to the man who had been mugged by the robbers?
Scholar: The one who showed mercy to him.
Jesus: Well then, go and behave like that Samaritan.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We don’t have to hear the story of the good Samaritan to know there are a lot of people like the priest and Levite in our world today. Think about all the stories you hear today about people being beaten, raped, or killed in the streets of our cities. And what do people do? They used to close their doors and windows and pretend nothing was going on. Police would canvas the neighborhood to see if anyone heard or saw anything and the answers were pretty much alike.

“No, officer. I had the TV on pretty loud, I guess. I didn’t hear anything. Did something happen out there? This is usually a pretty quiet neighborhood. I can’t believe someone would get hurt around here.”

“No, officer. I guess I’m a pretty heavy sleeper. You could drop and bomb next to me and I wouldn’t wake up. Sorry I can’t help you.”

That’s what we used to do when someone needed help. What do we do now? Pull out our cell phone and take video. Maybe we can get it on the news or send it to our friends and make it go viral. But help the person?

“No way am I getting involved in that. I might have to go to court or something. That might tie up my time for hours. I can’t do that. Besides, it might just be a family squabble. I’ll just take my video and maybe get rich on it or at least have something to text my friends about on Facebook when I get to work today. That will make the day go a little faster since I’m sure I’ll get to answer a lot of Facebook comments instead of dealing with all that office paperwork anyway.”

Yeah, we’ve become the priest and the Levite. We ignore people in trouble that need our help. We don’t even help the people on the corner that ask for assistance. They are their because they want to be, not because they have to be, right? It’s their own fault. Why don’t they just get a job instead of panhandling. Besides if I try to help them, they’ll just go spend anything I give them on booze so I’m really helping by not helping, right?

Yep, we have some great arguments with ourselves to keep from doing the right thing for people. I’m not saying we should give money to every homeless person on the street. I believe it is better to teach a person to fish than to give them a fish and that gets hard when we live in a society that loves to focus on giving material things instead of getting our hands dirty really helping people solve the real issues in their lives.

Is it hard? Absolutely. Does it take time and effort? More than you can imagine. Just look at what the Samaritan did. It would have taken him 30 seconds to pass by the bruised and broken man. The Bible doesn’t tell us how long he spent with the man, but I’ve tended to some folks who were broken up pretty badly and helped get them ready for transport to a hospital for better care. Just to get them ready to transport so they don’t receive further injuries while moving means you have to assess the injuries and see what must be fixed immediately to keep them from dying. You have to make sure they have a clear airway. You have to stop the bleeding. You must gently stabilize broken bones. You must find a way to move them since they can’t move under their own power. And that movement has to be such that they don’t sustain more injuries. The Samaritan did all those things knowing the bandits who did this might still be in the area. Then took the man to an inn, cared for him through the night, and paid the bill for the innkeeper to care for him until he was well enough to leave.

Was the Samaritan just looking for something to do? I don’t think so. I expect there were people at the end of his journey worried that night when he didn’t show up. I expect he lost some business that day because he helped someone in need.

Was it worth it? Ask Jesus?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

All you need is love (Luke 10:26-28) October 28, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Zephaniah

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 10:26-28
Jesus (answering with a question): What is written in the Hebrew Scriptures? How do you interpret their answer to your question?
Scholar: You shall love—“love the Eternal One your God with everything you have: all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind”—and “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus: Perfect. Your answer is correct. Follow these commands and you will live.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

A couple of weeks ago we held a community event at our church. We had a pumpkin patch and bounce house for the kids. A petting zoo and hay ride. Some of the members organized games and face painting and we had some gourmet food trucks that provided goodies throughout the day. But the big event was the antique car show. A couple of the local car clubs brought their cars to show off. I was roped into the role of DJ for the day.

Until the pastor asked me to fill in that role, I had almost forgotten the times one of the local stations in the town I went to high school let me run a show for them once a week as part of preparing for extemporaneous speaking competitions, debate, and other speaking contests I participated in during my high school days. It wasn’t much of an audience, but I did get to spin a few records. Well…I plugged in a few 8-tracks and had to make sure the commercials ran on time, grabbed the news and weather off the teletype and made sure I could read through all the typos that appeared in the faded ink on that flimsy yellow paper.

As the DJ in this particular community event, though, I decided to use a fifties theme since we were using the car show as the major draw for the community. So I pushed the top 100 hits from the 50s all afternoon and everyone had a blast listening to those old songs. At least they were polite enough to tell me they enjoyed the music. Based on their expressions and activity, I’m pretty sure their compliments were true.

So, that brings me to today’s verses, they reminded me of a Beatles’ song made popular in the 60s. You probably remember the words to the chorus. They go like this:

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

The Beatles probably weren’t thinking about agape kind of love, God’s unconditional love, but those words are true. We just can’t seem to get them right. We try to put other stuff in there instead of loving God and loving others and think that’s what’s necessary to please God. It’s not. The scholar who came to Jesus seeking information about the greatest commandment got it right. In Matthew, Jesus is said to have summed up the law in those two statements, love God and love your neighbor. He went on to tell us that all the other commands, every other law is built on those two commands.

If you think about it, it’s true. If we love God, we will do nothing that would cause Him harm or pain or displeasure. We would obey Him in every respect. We would worship Him for who He is and give Him our whole self to do with us whatever He chooses. We would never say no to one of His instructions to us if we really love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And what about loving our neighbor? Wouldn’t we do everything we could to advance our neighbor if we loved him? Wouldn’t we always say kind words about him? Wouldn’t we help whenever we could? Wouldn’t we be a listening ear and a helping hand when she needed one? Wouldn’t we be the very best friend we could be if we really loved our neighbor with God’s unconditional love? Wouldn’t we share the story of God’s salvation to our neighbor is our neighbor isn’t a Christian so that he would know God’s grace and saving mercy so that he would not find himself facing judgment without hope? If we really loved our neighbor wouldn’t we do everything we could to introduce her to the Savior so she could know the peace and joy that comes from serving Him?

Isn’t that what love is all about? Isn’t love about giving it away and not about trying to get it from others? At least that’s what Jesus seemed to teach us about God’s love. Yep, the words of the song are right when you talk about the right kind of unconditional agape love that God can put in our hearts. All you need is love. Love is all you need. Sometimes it’s a little hard to find these days, but you can share it. You can plant the seeds of God’s love around you and who knows, you might grow a bumper crop in the neighborhood where you live. Give it a try. It certainly won’t hurt anyone to love them. And it might make a huge difference in their eternity.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Who is your neighbor? (Luke 10:21-37), September 27, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Luke 10:21-37

Set – Haggai 2; Luke 10

Go! – Haggai 1-2; Psalms 129; Luke 10

Luke 10:21-37
21 Then Jesus Himself became elated. The Holy Spirit was on Him, and He began to pray with joy.
Jesus Thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Thank You for hiding Your mysteries from the wise and intellectual, instead revealing them to little children. Your ways are truly gracious. 22 My Father has given Me everything. No one knows the full identity of the Son except the Father, and nobody knows the full identity of the Father except the Son, and the Son fully reveals the Father to whomever He wishes. 23 (then almost in a whisper to the disciples) How blessed are your eyes to see what you see! 24 Many prophets and kings dreamed of seeing what you see, but they never got a glimpse. They dreamed of hearing what you hear, but they never heard it.
25 Just then a scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures tried to trap Jesus.
Scholar: Teacher, what must I do to experience the eternal life?
Jesus (answering with a question): 26 What is written in the Hebrew Scriptures? How do you interpret their answer to your question?
Scholar: 27 You shall love—“love the Eternal One your God with everything you have: all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind”—and “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus: 28 Perfect. Your answer is correct. Follow these commands and you will live.
29 The scholar was frustrated by this response because he was hoping to make himself appear smarter than Jesus.
Scholar: Ah, but who is my neighbor?
Jesus: 30 This fellow was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho when some robbers mugged him. They took his clothes, beat him to a pulp, and left him naked and bleeding and in critical condition. 31 By chance, a priest was going down that same road, and when he saw the wounded man, he crossed over to the other side and passed by. 32 Then a Levite who was on his way to assist in the temple also came and saw the victim lying there, and he too kept his distance. 33 Then a despised Samaritan journeyed by. When he saw the fellow, he felt compassion for him. 34 The Samaritan went over to him, stopped the bleeding, applied some first aid, and put the poor fellow on his donkey. He brought the man to an inn and cared for him through the night.
35 The next day, the Samaritan took out some money—two days’ wages to be exact—and paid the innkeeper, saying, “Please take care of this fellow, and if this isn’t enough, I’ll repay you next time I pass through.”
36 Which of these three proved himself a neighbor to the man who had been mugged by the robbers?
Scholar: 37 The one who showed mercy to him.
Jesus: Well then, go and behave like that Samaritan.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

As you try to get through the message of Good Samaritan, it probably doesn’t register very well with you today. You’ve heard the story many times and you’ve heard how Jews had a deep dislike for the Samaritans. You’ve heard about the failure of the priest and the Levite, two individuals who should have gone to the aid of the injured man. But you probably don’t get the whole picture because you didn’t live in the culture of the day.

Put your emotions into the story. Suppose the characters are updated a little. Let’s make the priest a well known pastor, the Levite a Christian Sunday School teacher, and the Samaritan an ISIS soldier, does that make a difference in how you understand the story? Now, who is the injured man’s neighbor? That’s what the scholar heard from his visceral emotions. He felt about the Samitans as you probably feel about those who behead the children of Christians in Syria.

So how could any of those among ISIS do any good? How could you think well of any of them? They are still My creation. They still have a living, eternal soul that I died to save. I still long for them to learn of Me and find My grace and the truth of My salvation. They are special to Me just as you are special to Me. I wove together every bone and sinew of their bodies just as I did yours. Have they been led astray by Satan’s lies? Yes. Can they be saved? Yes! Will they be saved? As readily as anyone who calls on My name for the forgiveness of their sins and believes in Me as the Son of God.

I hold no prejudices against any nation, race, gender, creed, or color. I died for all humanity. But I let you choose whether or not to believe in Me. Can you get over your prejudices? Think again about the story of the pastor, the Christian, and the ISIS soldier. Who is your neighbor? Who do you lift in prayer? How can you show Christ to those who seem unloveable? I died for them. What will you do?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.