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. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw
him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite,
when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But
a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had
compassion. 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. 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.
I remember a road trip my two oldest children and I had when
they were in college. We drove 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. There was a fire truck, a rescue
vehicle and a state trooper 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, a SUV flew down the road, passing the line of
traffic, narrowly avoiding the emergency vehicles, and just kept going.
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 and, many just keep
flying by like spiritual speeders too busy to help. Such spiritual speeders
narrowly miss hurting 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 all have 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 spent 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.
This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr.
Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational
leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a
happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a
cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully
through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of
his books at: http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY
No comments:
Post a Comment