Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” James 2:8
James remembered
his brother Jesus telling this little story of the GOOD Samaritan.
In the story Jesus makes the Samaritan mongrel a hero, and the religious
Jewish leaders the mutts!
That well-known “little
story” teaches us four lessons about loving under the “royal law” of Jesus…
1. We Should Love People Even When It’s
Unpopular
In Jesus’ story,
the Samaritan helped a Jew. He would
have been in trouble from both sides of that coin. The Jews would’ve hated him because they
hated Samaritans; the Samaritans would have despised him for having anything to
do with a Jewish bigot; a little like the predicament you’d get if Jesse
Jackson decided to join the KKK!
The point is, no
matter the popularity, love people anyway.
Someone will always disapprove – but God will approve! He looks at your heart, while others can only
see through their prejudiced filters.
2. We Should Love People Even When It’s
Inconvenient
There is no
“good” time for ministry. The
opportunity to minister and love others is something that comes upon you. In the story, the Samaritan was on a business
trip. It wasn’t pleasure – he was in the
land of those that hated him but found it convenient to do business with
him.
The religious
leaders had to be somewhere else – church meetings, whatever… The Samaritan had stuff to do too – he was
just a bit more ready to love. If you’re
going to live by the royal law of love, you need to be ready when God is!
3. We Should Love People Even When It’s
Unprofitable
It cost the
Samaritan to care for the man. Besides
the discomfort of other people’s looks, he put the beaten man on his own
saddle, and walked while the wretched Jew rode.
When they got to town, the Samaritan paid for the man’s room at the
inn. He even promised to pay more if that’s
what it took.
In every way
love costs; if it doesn’t, it isn’t love!
And great love is very
costly. If you doubt that, go back to
the Gospels and check out the cross. It
cost God a whole lot to love your sin away.
4. We Should Love People Even When It’s
Uncomfortable.
The Samaritan
could not have been very comfortable with what he did when he took the first
step towards that ditch. I can imagine
his what went through his mind:
·
What
am I doing here?
·
I
don’t even know this guy.
·
Man,
this Jew smells…don’t they ever wash?
·
My
wife is gonna kill me, this money was to buy a new milk cow.
·
Aw, man,
look at this guy’s eyes – he’s gonna die if someone don’t help him.
·
Okay…c’mon
my little Jewish pain in the neck.
·
Get
up on that saddle; Samaritan pushover’s gonna give you a ride to the doctor.
You and I have
our comfort zones. The Samaritan didn’t LIKE the Jew. But
he did love him. You will probably
experience discomfort when you love – but that’s what happens when you live by
the royal law of love.
Favoritism and
prejudice are sinfully wrong. It shames
the poor, divides the church and leads people astray. Living as a follower of Jesus Christ means a
higher road, looking up, loving. And
loving according to the royal law; it means loving even when it’s unpopular,
inconvenient, unprofitable, or uncomfortable.
For You Today
When you love
others God changes things. It’s the way
He set things up in this universe. His
rule is that mercy triumphs over judgment.
Go to VIDEO
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Title Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia
Commons
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The
New Living Translation©
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