Luke 10:30-35 - Jesus took up the question and
said: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the
hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half
dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw
him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite,
when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other
side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when
he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and
bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his
own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next
day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take
care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.
When my two older children were in college, we made a road
trip from Vermont to South Carolina. The weather was great and somehow we
managed to avoid all the road construction and rush hour traffic. We had no
delays on the trip, with one exception. As we neared Charlotte, North Carolina,
we came up on a long line of traffic due to a tractor trailer that had slid off
the road. A fire truck, a rescue vehicle, and a state trooper were on the
scene. The line of traffic had all shifted to the far lane to give the
emergency vehicles room to work. As we approached the actual scene of the
incident, an SUV flew down the road, passing the line of traffic, and narrowly
avoiding the emergency vehicles. Apparently the driver was unconcerned about
anything other than where he was headed in such a hurry.
It occurred to me that many Christians are just like that
SUV driver. People all around us have slid off the road of life. In the rush to
do everything, we often pass by those who need help the most. We see people
mired in difficulty and trouble. Though some Christians respond, many just keep
flying by like spiritual speeders too busy to help. They narrowly miss striking
concerned Christians who are responding to needs around them. Spiritual
speeders cruise past other Christians who are at the very least slowing down to
pray as they see needs around them.
I suspect we have all been spiritual speeders at certain
points in our lives. But perhaps we need to learn to slow down and spend more
time praying. Perhaps we need to pull over and spend time helping others.
Perhaps we need to encourage ministers and lay leaders who are helping, instead
of putting them in greater danger through our reckless attitudes. Perhaps it is
time to actually live like good Samaritans instead of spiritual speeders.
Lord, help us not to become so busy in life that we miss the
opportunities to help those in need who are all around us. Amen.
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This post is an excerpt from the book, The
Heavenly Mundane: Daily Devotions from Ordinary Experiences. Filled with stories of how God spoke in
big ways through small events, the book will encourage people to look for God
in the mundane things of life. Great for both personal use and to give as a
gift to friend, either the print version or the e-book version may be purchased
at this link:
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