Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)
The first thing I want you to do is pray . Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
Luke 10:25-37 (ESV)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Very familiar passage right?
But are we ready to “go and do likewise" today?
In the book “Move Toward the Mess: The Ultimate Fix for a Boring Christian Life”, John Hambrick expands on this idea of “do likewise”. And I had the occasion to share Hambrick's interview with Andy Stanley with my CHAMPIONS in Training Monday night in Columbus.
The link is below…
Hambrick and Stanley use the story to illustrate to us that sometimes to “do likewise” as Jesus instructed can be:
Inconvenient.
Yet when messy folks (those that need to see us as the representation of Jesus) seem inconvenient, we need to pause and re-evaluate. For when messy people are viewed as inconveniences rather than opportunities to share the love of Christ, to “do likewise”, then something is most certainly wrong. Maybe we are a smidgen too busy!
Not only can doing likewise being inconvenient it can be uncomfortable.
Hambrick comments that “We will never meet the best version of ourselves in our comfort zones.” Many times it is much more important to be courageous rather than comfortable!
And lastly, Hambrick remarks that wading into the mess often requires that we relinquish CONTROL. That in itself is enough to keep us from the mess right, to be a little more Levite than Samaritan?
That is why today I want to encourage us.
Don’t be afraid of the mess or the messy, the one on the side of the road, the addict in crisis, the troubled, the phone number you cringe when it appears.
Remember:
Following Jesus is “a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment that will interfere with your life. That's not the small-print--that's a guarantee.” ― Kyle Idleman
And it requires some “do likewise”!
I love you ALL!
Opportunities for Hope (Champions Charge)
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