Love your neighbor
We are meant to be loving. "But who is my neighbor?" the lawyer asked (Luke 10: 29). Jesus tells him a story about a man beaten half to death and robbed naked. A bunch of church people walk by and ignore him. Then a social outcast finds him and takes care of him far more than anyone would expect. That reminds me of my friend Charlie.
Charlie leads the teen center at the corps here. He isn't a Christian. Like the Samaritan, he has been rejected by the Church. That means my people pushed him away. Charlie, however, works for the Salvation Army running the teen center on Friday nights to give teens a safe and positive environment to grow and play. He isn't an officer/soldier/pastor/worship leader, kind of modern examples of the priest and Levite, but he is the one reaching out to the broken here.
Who are the broken?
A generation of kids who are being raised by themselves. With the high divorce rate, many kids are dealing with the outcome of broken marriages. There are loads of kids who need to be adopted and even a bunch of kids who are "unadoptable." Then you got your "latch key" kids who have parents who are always working or away. So they lock themselves into their homes and raise themselves. People call it a "Fatherless generation." So many kids don't have a physical father. So many more haven't been introduced to our Heavenly Father. This generation is the beaten up, naked, half dead man on the side of the road, beaten down by our old enemy satan and ignored and rejected by the people of the LORD. Thank you YHWH for samaritans.
We need to become more like the Samaritan. It requires sacrifice. It requires humility. The Samaritan gave up his donkey and a lot of money for a half dead bleeding stranger. This is Christ's example of love. We need to love. We need to accept people like Charlie. We need to be fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters to a generation who is hurt and broken, full of sex and drugs. I met a kid recently who is in Narcotics Anonymous. I think he was 14, maybe younger. His family is angry with him. He was a bad example to his 11 year old brother who is starting to smoke crack now too. But this story has a good end. The 14 year old found love and acceptance from an older Christian who listened to his story and spoke God's Truth into his life. The boy accepted Jesus' blood for his sins and now has a Father.
We need to love. We need to love. God commands it, we need to love. Please, please, please love. Without love we are a hopeless, fruitless people. Start with your friends. Start with your family. When you can love them, love the rejected. Love your enemies. The LORD will make you love. It's a fruit of His Spirit in our lives. Lets love. Please love. Nothing is greater. Nothing is more important. LOVE.
Charlie leads the teen center at the corps here. He isn't a Christian. Like the Samaritan, he has been rejected by the Church. That means my people pushed him away. Charlie, however, works for the Salvation Army running the teen center on Friday nights to give teens a safe and positive environment to grow and play. He isn't an officer/soldier/pastor/worship leader, kind of modern examples of the priest and Levite, but he is the one reaching out to the broken here.
Who are the broken?
A generation of kids who are being raised by themselves. With the high divorce rate, many kids are dealing with the outcome of broken marriages. There are loads of kids who need to be adopted and even a bunch of kids who are "unadoptable." Then you got your "latch key" kids who have parents who are always working or away. So they lock themselves into their homes and raise themselves. People call it a "Fatherless generation." So many kids don't have a physical father. So many more haven't been introduced to our Heavenly Father. This generation is the beaten up, naked, half dead man on the side of the road, beaten down by our old enemy satan and ignored and rejected by the people of the LORD. Thank you YHWH for samaritans.
We need to become more like the Samaritan. It requires sacrifice. It requires humility. The Samaritan gave up his donkey and a lot of money for a half dead bleeding stranger. This is Christ's example of love. We need to love. We need to accept people like Charlie. We need to be fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters to a generation who is hurt and broken, full of sex and drugs. I met a kid recently who is in Narcotics Anonymous. I think he was 14, maybe younger. His family is angry with him. He was a bad example to his 11 year old brother who is starting to smoke crack now too. But this story has a good end. The 14 year old found love and acceptance from an older Christian who listened to his story and spoke God's Truth into his life. The boy accepted Jesus' blood for his sins and now has a Father.
We need to love. We need to love. God commands it, we need to love. Please, please, please love. Without love we are a hopeless, fruitless people. Start with your friends. Start with your family. When you can love them, love the rejected. Love your enemies. The LORD will make you love. It's a fruit of His Spirit in our lives. Lets love. Please love. Nothing is greater. Nothing is more important. LOVE.
posted by I Believe We Shall Win at 8:01 PM
1 Comments:
have you been reading "Be a Hero" as much as i?
olivia.
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