Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Proverbs 14:21-25
Prov 14:21-25
Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. Do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness. In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the folly of fools brings folly. A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful.
Luke 10:29, 36-37
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (This is the beginning and the end of the parable that we call the “Good Samaritan”. You can fill in the story.)
Jesus stayed on the Pharisees quite a bit about their misunderstanding of what it meant to serve God. They confused religion with serving God. But it wasn’t just the Rabis who had this problem, because the people had been taught by them and so, of course, they thought the same way. Imagine the confusion in their minds when Jesus said their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees!
James the brother of Jesus had this problem too. It was the men who came from James that convinced Barnabas that he should not eat with the Gentiles. But we see the transition in his thinking when he wrote in his book that pure religion was really all about taking care of widows and orphans in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world. He had finally learned that serving Jesus meant that we change from the inside and begin to think like Jesus.
“Who is my neighbor?” This question is in response to the command that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. The answer that Jesus gives in his story is that our neighbor is anyone with whom we come in contact. It may be the religious leader (the priest) or a person who calls themselves “Christian” (the Levite) or it may be that immigrant that we wish had “stayed home” and who has a different belief. The point? We are to love everyone as we love ourselves! After all, God loves them as much as he loves me, and Jesus died for them the same as for me! John asked how we can claim to love God if we don’t love others?
O Lord God, fill me with your Spirit so I will think like Jesus and act like Jesus and love everyone, even those that don’t love me. Help me be willing to show my love by being kind to others. Teach me to keep my mouth and not talk badly about them, even if they come from another country or believe differently from me. Forgive me when I fail to be just like Jesus. Thank you for loving me, even though I know that I do not deserve your love. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
