Who Is My Neighbor?

Luke 10:33-25                                               Who Is my Neighbor?

“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him.  When He saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him.  He gave him first aid, disinfected and bandaged his wounds.  Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable.  In the morning he took two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him.  If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’” (MSG).

We are all familiar with the story of the good Samaritan, the stranger who stopped and helped a wounded man.  Maybe we are too familiar with it to think about what it really means.  Two other men had seen the injured man and didn’t help.  In fact, they both glanced at him and got away from him as fast as they could lest someone might see them and think they should help.  I’ve often wondered if either of the two had any later feelings of guilt for offering no help, or did they go on with their day without a second thought?  Evidently, whatever they were doing was more important to them than helping this man.  They were both important men who may have thought, “Someone else will take care of him.”  Guess what—someone did, a man whose business could wait until he helped a hurting man, a man who was beyond helping himself.  It seems like he was similar to David, whom God described as “having a heart for God.”  Jesus said, in Luke 6:31, “…Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!”  He also said, in Matthew 22:39, “…Love others as well as you love yourself.”  I don’t think the Samaritan had had the opportunity to actually hear Jesus say those words.  He certainly didn’t have the opportunity to read them in the Bible, but they were in his heart.  We have all been created in the image of God, and I believe that these truths about caring for and loving others have been imprinted in ever human brain at birth, but we have allowed the world’s attitude of “me first,” to invade our brains and corrupt our thinking.

How many times have we had an opportunity to help someone and walked on by or were too busy?  Most often we “walk on by” not literally, but figuratively.  How often are we aware that someone needs some help, maybe to pick up some groceries, maybe to be given a ride to the store or doctor, maybe to just hear a kind word, maybe to be told about the love of Jesus?  I would venture to say that each of us knows someone right now who could use help of some kind.  Are we too busy to offer help or are we afraid to ask if someone needs help?  Many people who need help are too shy or too embarrassed to ask for help.  That doesn’t mean that they don’t need it.  I believe that God would have us think about others and their needs daily.  I think He would have us offer even before we are asked.  I have friends like that, who always seem to know when I need help and offer it before I ask.  They are precious people who think of others first, and they are respected throughout the community because “they have a heart for God.”  I am blessed to have friends like that, and I hope that you are equally blessed.  I want to be one of those people who thinks of others first and offers help even before it is asked.  Lord, make me aware of those around me, help me to think of their needs, and make me eager to be of help to friend or stranger.   In this world of “me first” we need many more people who have the heart of God.  So, who is my neighbor, or maybe, or who isn’t my neighbor?  Let’s let love and caring for others replace the “me first” attitude and see how our community, our county, our state, and our nation change.