TODAY IS…

the perfect day to get involved.

“And he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him ‘Go and do the same.’”  Luke 10:37 NASB

When asked to explain exactly who his “neighbor” was by an individual who was testing Him, Jesus told the story of the Jewish man who was robbed and beaten on the road to Jericho.

A priest came along and passed the beaten Jewish man by, as did a temple assistant. It was only the Samaritan who stopped to render aid. This was unusual since Jews and Samaritans despised each other. Not only did the Samaritan attend to his wounds on the spot, he took the Jew to an inn and paid the innkeeper to look after him until he had recovered.

It was then that Jesus asked the one who was testing Him, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” Luke 10:36 NIV

It is from this parable that the term “Good Samaritan” is derived. The Samaritan who stopped to render aid did not look the other way because what had happened did not involve him. He did not pass him by because he was a Jew. He did not ignore the man’s needs because to stop and render aid would be inconvenient.

He stopped to help a fellow human being who was hurting and in need.

In other words, he did what God expects of us all – he looked out for the needs of his neighbor. We all are neighbors in the eyes of God. Helping someone in need should be something we do without hesitation, but so often in these times, just like in the times when Jesus told the parable, it is too inconvenient, too much trouble, or not our responsibility to come to the aid of our fellow man. We find it difficult to bring ourselves to “get involved.”

Examples of the reluctance to be a good neighbor – or to be a Good Samaritan – can be found all around us on a daily basis. While it is true that there are also examples of people going out of their way – even risking their lives – for others, our focus should be on why so many of us choose not to get involved.

It should be unthinkable to any follower of Christ to pass by someone who needs help or to refuse to get involved because it is inconvenient. We can make all of the excuses we want, and many of them probably sound pretty good. But none of them are good enough when we ask ourselves this simple question: “How inconvenient was it for Christ to be beaten, humiliated, scorned, and killed so that we may be saved?”

If we look at it that way, there is no excuse for refusing to get involved and help our neighbors. Today is a gift from God and it is the perfect day to help someone who is hurting and in need.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson