Scripture
Luke 10:25-42 (Living) One day an expert on Moses' laws came to test Jesus' orthodoxy by asking him this question: "Teacher, what does a man need to do to live forever in heaven?" 26 Jesus replied, "What does Moses' law say about it?"
27 "It says," he replied, "that you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself." 28 "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you shall live!" 29 The man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people, so he asked, "Which neighbors?"
30 Jesus replied with an illustration: "A Jew going on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, and beat him up and left him lying half-dead beside the road. 31 "By chance a Jewish priest came along; and when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Jewish Temple-assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but then went on.
33 "But a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw him, he felt deep pity. 34 Kneeling beside him the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his donkey and walked along beside him till they came to an inn, where he nursed him through the night. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two twenty-dollar bills and told him to take care of the man. 'If his bill runs higher than that,' he said, 'I'll pay the difference the next time I am here.'
36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the bandits' victim?" 37 The man replied, "The one who showed him some pity." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."
Observations
Another test for Jesus we all hated a pop quiz when we were in school, Jesus was getting a quiz everyday. The main theme of this and most all of the quizzes was “The Law vs. Love”, well the law says that I must love but aren’t there some people that I don’t have to love? There must be some fine print, right?
First we have to “love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.” That is a lot of passion for God, I don’t see that much passion in my life or anybody else around me for God. What would that look like in our church? Why are we just sitting in the pews breathing and nothing else? Why do we not sing with enthusiasm? Why do we walk away saying “that was a nice service?” Why don’t we serve God outside of the four walls of the church? Where is the passion?
The God of the whole big universe loves you and I and suffered to pay our sin debt so that we can have a relationship with Him! How can we dare sit in the pews and grumble about church and not be humbled by this fact? How can we dare not love, live and serve him with passion? As David said “My zeal for God and his work burns hot within me.” Psalms 69:9 (Living)
When we get our love for God straight then we can easily demonstrate love to others as the Samaritan did.
Application
I need to have more love for God, to love him intensely and have a heart of love and concern for all people and show them Christ love with random acts of kindness.
Prayer
I love you Lord, increase my love for you to be with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength, and with my entire mind. I pray that I will always remember the undeserved love that you gave to me and help me to “love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself.”
