JESUS THE GOOD SAMARITAN and HEALER OF ALL HURTS

Luke 10: 25-37

Stop sharing your pain with people because most of them don’t care about you. Instead, they want to prolong it by rubbing salt into your wounds. They exacerbate your pain with their self-righteous admonition.  Typical of what those inhumane people did to that wounded man left to die. The pastor was the first to see him because, of course, he was the leader and is expected to have compassion for the broken. However; he didn’t care to know and to ease his conscience; he passed by on the other side.  He was dodging his responsibility while an innocent man lay on the road, possibly taking his last breath.  The next in line was the elder. He too, in his pomposity, did nothing but take the other side of the road so that he didn’t feel empathy for him.  They thought that not passing him on the same side absolved them from wrongdoing, but it didn’t.  They were guilty and if that man had died, his blood would have been on their shoulders.

 Then the good Samaritan showed up on the scene and had compassion for the man. He didn’t blame him for bringing it upon himself because he travelled on a road frequented by robbers instead; he jumped into action. First, he bandaged the wound to stem the flow of blood and then applied the remedy of oil and wine to the bandage.  And he lifted the wounded man unto his donkey and took him to an inn, emptying his pockets of all he had and making a commitment to the innkeeper to pay for services rendered that were more than the money he left. He was a total stranger, yet he went exceedingly above and beyond to help this person live. This is true love, the love that God expects us to have for each other.  We cannot do everything but can do something.

The hypocrites will always point their fingers at you however, Jesus’s arms are always outstretched. He is waiting for you to run into them, where He invites you to rest on His chest and be comforted.  It is up to us whether we want to tell Him our problems or enjoy the comforting embrace that is always available for us even if we’re the most foul-mouthed vagrant on earth because God’s nature is love and He will always love us, regardless. Many of us go about wounding people intentionally and unintentionally. We want to straighten others out because we feel it is our responsibility. If we are honest, most of us are not worthy of doing this because sin lies at our door (Gen 4:7).  We turn people away from the truth with our brutal pharisaical criticisms.  Our Father, God admonishes us to not be a stumbling block in our brother’s way (Romans 14:13-23), when we offend a brother it is very difficult to win him over (Proverbs 18:19-21). https://youtu.be/lg8GyDyXmnk

When we see others doing wrong, let us pray for them instead of stressing them.  Only the Holy Spirit knows their heart and their motives let Him do the refining work in them.  I remember my late husband telling me that if I had an issue with him, I must not tell him, but tell the Holy Spirit, who will then tell Him.  I struggled with this because I saw it as avoidance.  As I contemplated writing this article, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind these words. He knew that your judgement was not always righteous and that it would harden his heart. I finally saw the wisdom in this after so many years.  When we seek the truth, we will find it (Jeremiah 29:13).  Yes, I went to the Holy Spirit but sometimes reluctantly, and He worked on the heart of my giant in many mysterious ways. I pray you will strive for the mastery and the crown of eternal life (2 Timothy 2:5-7).  I love you all! https://youtu.be/BY6VAy9y_iQ