Today’s 333 Devotional: “Love God’s Style”

In our parable this Sunday, “Love God’s Style,” or what Bible Scholars call, “The Good Samaritan,” we’ll be looking at the issue and Jesus’s answer to the question, “What is our reaction when confronted with people that are in need?”

The main point of this parable is that God’s heart is for those in need, thus the title, “Love God’s Style,” or God’s style of love will find ways to meet those in need. Love God’s Style is displayed for the world to see in how we meet and trat those who are in need, those that God places our path.

As powerful as this lesson is, it was probably more powerful in Jesus’s day, especially seeing how the story unfolded, and then in Jesus’s parting words, “Go and do likewise.”

But what really shocked the audience is the hero of the story. I wasn’t a Jew, but rather someone whom the Jews despised, a Samaritan, who as the last person in the world that such a poor and needy Jew could or had the right to expect mercy from.

And so, the power behind the parable was not only who our neighbor is, but also how to be a neighbor. And Jesus reveals several actions that we must take to love our neighbor as ourselves, along with those actions we must make toward those who are in need and that God puts in our path.

First there must be a Willingness to Risk Inconvenience, which in those days would be the inconvenience of contamination, of being outside our comfort zone, and of an interrupted schedule.

Next there must be a willingness of risk personal safety, which involves the risk of reaching out, and a refusal to avoid others in need.

There must also be a willingness of ignore social barriers set up by the culture and society we live in, and to act upon what we say we believe.

Therefore, love God’s style sees these interruptions as divine opportunities.