Who are we kidding?
How our mind plays games with us
There are a couple of very enlightening lessons from the passage of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Let me reprint that text from The Message version of the Bible here for a fresh reading of it, then on to the lessons:Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"He answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?"
He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence--and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."
"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define "neighbor?"
Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
"A Samaritan travelling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out 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.'
"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?"
"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, "Go and do the same."
He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence--and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."
"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define "neighbor?"
Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
"A Samaritan travelling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out 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.'
"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?"
"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, "Go and do the same."
1. Why ask if you already know the answer? The religion scholar asked a question he already knew the answer to. Of course his motive was to test Jesus, not really to find out how to get eternal life. But the Lord Jesus handled tricky questions like that with great wisdom. He answered it with another question, turning the focus back on the asker!
Often people ask questions they know the answer to, only to try and find – like the religion scholar – a loophole, an excuse, a way to justify themselves for not obeying God. I remember someone who asked me once if they still had to tithe, even though they already contributed regularly to children's charity in Africa. Can you spot the real motive in that question?
Naturally we all have a lawyer in our heads looking for loopholes in the laws of God and of men in order to get away with more than we should. It's that persistent voice we hear in the back of our mind telling us, "Well, technically, you're not really breaking any laws if you do it this way..."
Beware of that voice! We may not break any laws literally, but it's the spirit of the law, not just the letter, that must be respected.
2. If you know the answer, why don't you do it? In essence, the Lord Jesus' answer to both of the lawyer's questions was the same: Just do what you know you've got to do. That scholar wasn't uninformed. He didn't need any more teaching. All he needed was to do what he already knew.
How much knowledge have you acquired from the Word of God? How many sermons have you listened to? How many Bible verses do you know by heart?
"He didn't need any more teaching. All he needed was to do what he already knew."
In a nutshell, Jesus' advice to the religion scholar was "Go and apply what you already know."
Let's stop kidding ourselves. Let's quit trying to find excuses or pretend we don't know what to do.
Let's just do what we've got to do.
Pr. Renato Cardoso
Messages
Women
Youth
Online Bookstore
Free Weekly Success Tips
RANDOM QUOTE
"A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip, and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow."
Charlie Brower
Charlie Brower
Case Studies
Trapped in a 90-year-old body?Seansay Clayton's life came to a standstill. She could no longer fulfill her responsibilities as a bank manager, and quit because of her illnesses...
Read more...