Good Samaritan? Who Me?

Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So, too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 

—Luke 10:30-34

Pretty much everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan from the Bible but did you know Samaritan didn’t mean ‘helper’ but were people despised by most. 

The verse above indicates that so called ‘church people’ passed by the person who needed help but the one man everyone avoided and stayed away from was the one to offer help. 

How about you? Do you pass by opportunities to legitimately give help if you can? Safety of course in our day is an issue but when you pass a homeless man on the curb bundled up or a person asleep on a park bench that looks down and out what is your first response? Search your heart and be kind of the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. You never know who might really be an angel from God. 

PRAYER: Jesus I thank you for goodness and grace and prosperity more than most of the world. Thank you for opportunities to help someone worse off than me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.