Unlike the lawyer in the story of the Good Samaritan, whose questioning prompted Jesus’ parable, we don’t love our neighbors in order to earn heaven. We’re doing it because heaven was given to us as a gift, and we can’t help but become to others what Jesus has become to us.
We love because we have been loved, because Jesus loved us first. That’s why we love our neighbors.
But that theological truth doesn’t always automatically change our everyday lives. In my experience, I’ve found that there are also some practical considerations for how we love our neighbors. Specifically, the story of the Good Samaritan shows us two obstacles that keep us from loving our neighbors well.
1. Fear
Fear was one of the primary deterrents to the priest and the Levite engaging. To stop and help the wounded man would have put them at risk. After all, if he had been attacked on the desolate road between Jerusalem and Jericho, what guarantee did they have of safety? What if the attackers were still close by? What if this dying man was part of a set-up?
Fear is one of the primary factors keeping us from loving our neighbors, too. We ask, “What will the effect be on our lives if we get involved? What will the effect be on our kids if we open up our lives and homes to people with problems?”
You probably know people who have a very tight circle of friends and only let in people who are safe or bring a benefit to their family. Not only does that mentality cut you off from the mission of God; it ultimately destroys you.
In their book, Next Door as It Is in Heaven, Lance Ford and Brad Brisco talk about how fear keeps so many of us from living like Jesus. One of the authors says that as a typical American, he bought into the notion:
“Our home was our castle. It was our personal space that ought not be intruded upon. While we had people in our home on a regular basis, it was almost always at our convenience.
Then I realized that I assumed the greatest need of my family is safety. I learned that our greatest need is the experience of loving and serving like Jesus did … The real question is not, ‘How dangerous is that stranger?’ The real question is, ‘How dangerous will I become if I am not more open?’”
To love, to put yourself in danger, to inconvenience yourself—like Jesus did—takes courage. But to shrink from love because of fear is ultimately much more dangerous.
2. Lack of Margin
For many of us, the problem is not that we don’t have a desire to help. It’s that we haven’t left any room for it. Our heart may be in the right place, but our calendar isn’t.
To create margin in our lives, we need to learn to say “no.” We have so many good opportunities in our lives that we need to make sure we preserve room for the best ones—which means saying “no” to some really good things to be able to say “yes” to the best ones.
Here’s one example: I see a lot of parents who have no ability to be engaged in the mission of God or the church—or hardly be a family—because of how much they are running around with their kids’ activities. These aren’t the folks who see the sports team as a ministry opportunity; they’re the ones that don’t want their kids to be deprived of any essential childhood experiences. Then, when their kid grows up and walks away from the faith, they ask, “What did we do wrong?”
They taught their kids that the wrong things in their lives were the most important. They so filled up their lives with the marginal that they eliminated any space for the essential.
You’ve got to learn to say “no” to good things so you can say “yes” to the essential things. That starts with an honest time audit of your life and then some intentional decisions about what you’re going to make room for so that you have room for the gospel.
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
