He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Luke 10:27 (NIV)
Many of us know the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) as the story of a kind person stopping to help another person. But it means a bit more. In the story, the traveler and the Samaritan could not be more different. They came from different cities. They had very different views.
Some might even say that these two people would have hated one another. Yet despite their differences, the Samaritan chose to love his neighbor. Even though the neighbor wasn’t really his neighbor at all.
Our neighbor isn’t just the person next door. Our neighbor is the person God has placed right in front us. And no matter how different, how inconvenient or how unexpected, we’re asked to love our neighbor well.
Consider the following questions:
- How do you put in extra effort to love your neighbors?
- How do you push past some of the obstacles that prevent you from loving your neighbors well?
Since we are a family of child advocates, consider sharing your insights from the perspective of Compassion’s ministry and adding a link for child sponsorship.