Musings of a Prodigal Son - Compassion without Strings

In the Bible there is the parable of the traveler who was attacked and left to die at the side of the road. Various people came by and for various reasons passed him by. One for the sake of time, one for the sake of religion, one for the sake of indifference. Along came a Samaritan and he not only nursed the man but provided shelter to him while he recovered. This parable was told to a group of Jewish people who considered the Samaritans as "less thans" and unclean people. They were not the "chosen ones." They were considered to be "worldly people" of that day.  It is significant that the behavior of this Samaritan was one of  compassion in assistance offered to his fellow sojourner.

Those who call themselves Christians  often wonder why the world is not reached for Christ. I onced taught a course entitled Continuing Witness Training (CWT) at a church I once served as Pastor. An interesting aspect of this course was for those who attended the training to identify how many "unchurched" people they had as friends. It was alarming how many of those in attendance had so few friends that were "unchurched". I was also one who had almost no "unchurched" friends and acquaintances with whom I spent time. Most of my intimate relationships were with people who were already exposed to the things of the church. This is a significant point. If we are not spending enough time with Non-Christian people to know what their needs really are, how do we expect to reach them with the influence of Christ in us? I am sure that many of you reading this that would respond to someone in crisis the way the Samaritan did with the wounded stranger but would you go the extra mile by spending time with them in order to "nurse them back to health."? Influence happens largely due to investment of time and energy. If we spent more time with people who need Christ, we would naturally have less time to spend with those with whom we go to church or spend time with "doing church things." Of course, there was a time when the Samaritan had to go on his way but then he paid the Inn Keeper to continue to "watch over" the stranger until he was able to go on his own. 

Notice that the Samaritan was unconcerned about "why" the stranger had been attacked. He did not consider whether or not there was a good reason for the attack. He offered compassion and investment with no strings attached.


The Christian life is supposed to be a life of sacrifice. This includes time, energy, and investment. Jesus modeled a life lived for others. If we are his followers are we not supposed to do the same? Jesus made his disciples Andrew and Simon (Peter) "fishers of men". They had been commercial fisherman but he changed their focus.


Jesus said, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." (Luke 17:33) Losing our lives simply means living for others and surrendering to Christ in obedience to follow him. It really gives new meaning to the hymn that many of us sang in church, "I Surrender All."


The world says, "Live for self. Focus on what you need. After all, no one else will."


Jesus says, "Focus on others and God will provide for you. Joy and happiness will come to you as you live for the benefit of others."


Two totally different ways of living. I am appalled at how much of my life has been spent focusing on me. When I look back at my life, focusing on me has always caused me the greatest dissatisfaction and discontent. The times that I have focused on others have been the most joyous "life worth living" times of my life.


How will we live our lives from this point forward?