My Daily Pause

Parable of the Good Samaritan – 1670 – Jan Wijnants (1632–1684)

This:

Love your neighbor

Equals this:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind

According to Luke 10:27, both are required to inherit eternal life. In fact in Matthew 22:39, it is worded quite clearly:

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

It’s an astounding thought at first glance. But then – not really. The expectation is for Christians to be kind and loving to other people.

Here’s the Problem:

One of our goals is supposed to be to get people to heaven – to give them the same hope we have.

Collectively, we might need to do a better job at that. We will not win many people over for Christ being less than loving. A less than loving Christian, is not Christian at all.

Once we put ourselves out there, everyone is watching. They are going to make a judgment about our sincerity.

The kind of stuff that hurts us:

• Gossip – Remember what mother taught. Just say nice things about others.
• Inconsistency – Mood swings are no good.
• Unhappiness – The Bible says over and over again to rejoice
• Selfishness – that self-love is exactly the intensity we are to show toward others
• Dependability – When a neighbor calls on us, they need to hear “yes” more often. Being true to our word wouldn’t hurt either.

The Fix:

Nobody is perfect. It is unlikely that any of us will get to the point of winning over everyone we meet. We will get a good start down that path if we just clean up some of those hurtful things. My guess is if we work on these suggestions, we can build momentum to do even more:

• We have to stop being negative about others. The Bible has much to say about gossip and idle talk.
• Control that mood. Running hot and cold causes people to avoid us.
• Rejoice! Be happy. Take it from me – It’s a habit.
• Collect less stuff. Give more.
• Never go back on your word.

God loves us and expects us to return that love. Part of that love is loving others just as much.

What is the first thing you can do to contribute?