The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
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I felt God has been working in my heart lately... One of the areas is about giving up my personal space, rights, time, sleep, energy, etc.. the point is, God has been speaking to me about me protecting myself a lot... A lot of things has been brewing, and I see a lot of things around me that are far from perfect. On one hand, they frustrate me and make me feel indignant, on the other hand, I chose indifference, because it seemed easier to deal with. After quite a lot of things that had happened, esp that in my heart in July 09, I believe God brought me thru the valley to prepare to expand my heart.
So, for the past few weeks, I felt God has been nudging me, and somehow, the Holy Spirit has been making me uncomfortable in my spirit-man. Maybe picking up the book "Meeting yourself in the parables" by Warren Wiersbe was inspired by Him. The above parable was the one that struck me a lot and brought out a lot of things I had been feeling (bad) and challenged me greatly in my soul.
I knew I had to stop being indifferent. I knew I had to do something, if not I would wallow into self-destruction cos of the disease of "Me, myself & I" ("MMI"). We were never made for this "MMI" disease. Well, we were made for fellowship! We were made for His Kingdom. We were made with eternity in our hearts! We were not made so we can lick our wounds (all the time), find means and ways to keep loving ourselves, protect our interests and needs first, and so on. God said we were made to Love Him, to fellowship with Him and to do His work! And what is His work and to love Him? It is, as He has said many times over... to love Him and to love others.
Being involved in ministry and activities does NOT equate to loving Him & loving others. We need to check our hearts for these. Today, I read 1 Samuel 15:22, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." Think He desires our fellowship and our loving one another, more than us just sacrificing offerings (things) to Him. I guess, anything that is done out of the flesh and not from our heart and love, is like a resounding gong and is like burnt offerings and not (exactly) obedience.
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
**********************************************************
I felt God has been working in my heart lately... One of the areas is about giving up my personal space, rights, time, sleep, energy, etc.. the point is, God has been speaking to me about me protecting myself a lot... A lot of things has been brewing, and I see a lot of things around me that are far from perfect. On one hand, they frustrate me and make me feel indignant, on the other hand, I chose indifference, because it seemed easier to deal with. After quite a lot of things that had happened, esp that in my heart in July 09, I believe God brought me thru the valley to prepare to expand my heart.
So, for the past few weeks, I felt God has been nudging me, and somehow, the Holy Spirit has been making me uncomfortable in my spirit-man. Maybe picking up the book "Meeting yourself in the parables" by Warren Wiersbe was inspired by Him. The above parable was the one that struck me a lot and brought out a lot of things I had been feeling (bad) and challenged me greatly in my soul.
I knew I had to stop being indifferent. I knew I had to do something, if not I would wallow into self-destruction cos of the disease of "Me, myself & I" ("MMI"). We were never made for this "MMI" disease. Well, we were made for fellowship! We were made for His Kingdom. We were made with eternity in our hearts! We were not made so we can lick our wounds (all the time), find means and ways to keep loving ourselves, protect our interests and needs first, and so on. God said we were made to Love Him, to fellowship with Him and to do His work! And what is His work and to love Him? It is, as He has said many times over... to love Him and to love others.
Being involved in ministry and activities does NOT equate to loving Him & loving others. We need to check our hearts for these. Today, I read 1 Samuel 15:22, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." Think He desires our fellowship and our loving one another, more than us just sacrificing offerings (things) to Him. I guess, anything that is done out of the flesh and not from our heart and love, is like a resounding gong and is like burnt offerings and not (exactly) obedience.
I want to love others, to be involved, to get my hands dirty... and not stand at the sideline and complain, murmur, and just NATO (No action, talk only). I don't want to wait till conditions are more conducive or better, or wait till people do something. I guess, I want to obey God TODAY, so i want to get involved in people. I pray that He will sustain and fan this conviction which I believe was stirred up by Him (anyway).
I want to remember this lesson that God taught me personally... I am honoured to be His student and He, my Master.
