.VeggieTales flashback.

Today = Luke 10:21-42 + Psalm 11 + Genesis 18

The passage in Luke is the story of the Good Samaritan. I think each time I have read this, I see something different. I know at first I just thought the priest and the Levite were just jerks, and the Samaritan was the only one that was normal and actually stopped to help. Later, when watching a very good animated Veggie Tales short, I finally realized that the Samaritan was not 'normal' at all, but was actually going against culture and the rules he had grown up with. The two different groups HATED each other, yet he went out of his way, provided care, food and shelter for a complete stranger who by all means could be dangerous. And this is what we are called to do; it is not just the people we are close to that we need to look out for, but those that are different from us as well. Of course, sometimes this seems like the hardest thing in the world to do, but following Christ is by no means easy.

Personally, I definitely feel convicted about this. Honestly I can be lazy caring for the people I like, much less the people I don't like. I think it's easy most days to feel 'ok' about not stepping in and helping out when people are in need. We find that we always have something better to do. Yet this is one of the two biggies God asks us to do: "'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) I think it is going to become one of my goals, to truly step beyond my comfort zone and care for those I don't feel like caring for.