Who do you love?

For the next couple of weeks we will be taking a look at relationships, determining to have transformed relationships by loving as Jesus loved. This may be one of the most difficult areas of transformation for us, but in the end it may also be the most fulfilling. Right now, I want to focus on who to love.

A well known story that sometimes loses its luster is the story of The Good Samaritan. The context of this story from Luke 10 is that a lawyer spoke up to test Jesus. He asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered his question with another question: What does the Law say? The man correctly answered that it says to love God with all of our being and love our neighbor as ourselves. But he adds this follow up question for Jesus: who is my neighbor? That is when Jesus tells the story of The Good Samaritan...and the sting of this passage is the fact that Jesus portrays a Samaritan as someone who loves his neighbor enough to help him. Jews hated Samaritans, so this would really hurt that in Jesus' story, the Jews passed by and the Samaritan helped...feels like a punch in the stomach if you ask me.

So if you get a moment, read Luke 10:25-37. The story is amazing! However, it is simply right-on with the way we choose who we will love. Maybe we see someone in need and simply pass them by because they are not someone we feel comfortable around or they look different or we simply "don't have time" to help them. I remember reading a book by Howard Hendricks in which he told this story: He had set up a scenario in which his seminary students were to prepare a short sermon on this very passage. Then he had a man pretend to be a beggar and placed him strategically in the path of the students as they would go to the lecture hall to present their sermons. Each student, every single one of them, passed by the man hurriedly as they were rushing to get to the lecture hall and prepare to give their sermon. Do you think they got the lesson? Did their sermon preparation sink in? Probably not. I mean think about the last minute sermon illustration that could have been...

Who are we to love? Who is our neighbor? Maybe the better question to ask is: who do I see? Who is around me? Who needs love? Who are the human beings I come in contact with? Every person we come across is our neighbor. Love Everyone!! What about my enemies? Read Matthew 5:43-47. We will examine how to love next week. But I hope you would do yourself a favor this week. Take a little over an hour and watch this video: click here. It will tie this week's blog to next week's blog. Just as a warning, it is very intense, and may be difficult for you to hear.

When God forgives us, and when we become citizens of the kingdom of God, our lives serve as a testimony of who God is. Our job is to be transformed in order to share that testimony with those who don't know of this kingdom. How can you love someone today, this week, this hour? Who is in your path, and who needs love? We'll explore what it means to love next week, but let this suffice for now...it is not about one act. It is about showing you really care. Who do you love?