A Hand Up
Today I am trying something different (let me know what you think about it). We are going to look at the story of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman. The passage is too long to put here so I've given you the link to read it now ( http://bible.us/8/jhn.4.6-42.amp ) in case you are not familiar with it.
Jesus is always our example. In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well we see Jesus break the man made rules of separation (the Jews did not talk to or interact with the Samaritan people) as He asked her to get Him a drink of water from the well (John 4:6-42 or use the link above).
She is a woman of another race, that the Jews looked down on, who has had five husbands and is currently living with a man that is not her husband. Jesus meets her at the well and offers her eternal life knowing that she is filthy with sin. He talks to her without judgment or criticism. He does not call her names or throw her bad choices up in her face.
No, Jesus does the opposite of what many of us do - He invites her to become a member of His family, to enter His promises and to find the love she as so desperately searched for in men.
Jesus knew her every sin and still loved her, still included her, and still treated her with respect. He offered her everything He had right where she was bogged down in sin. He did not use His knowledge of her sin to refuse her entrance, He used it as her key to get in.
All too often, we are quick to judge what we don't understand. When people around us make bad choices, our first response is to distance ourselves from them and avoid them. We use the visible sins of others to exclude them from our lives. But that is not what love does.
Love acknowledges the sin but still treats the person with kindness. Love does not look for places to draw lines and create divisions, it looks for ways to promote justice and unity, to heal and repair.
There are consequences for sin that cannot be avoided and love does not remove them. Love lets God deal with the sin while it encourages the person to get back up and start moving in the right direction again.
Love never fails.
1 Cor. 13:8
We all sin and we all need God's mercy and grace. Instead of putting people down, try helping them back up.
Reflect the love of God by giving others a hand up.
Heidirn
Jesus is always our example. In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well we see Jesus break the man made rules of separation (the Jews did not talk to or interact with the Samaritan people) as He asked her to get Him a drink of water from the well (John 4:6-42 or use the link above).
She is a woman of another race, that the Jews looked down on, who has had five husbands and is currently living with a man that is not her husband. Jesus meets her at the well and offers her eternal life knowing that she is filthy with sin. He talks to her without judgment or criticism. He does not call her names or throw her bad choices up in her face.
No, Jesus does the opposite of what many of us do - He invites her to become a member of His family, to enter His promises and to find the love she as so desperately searched for in men.
Jesus knew her every sin and still loved her, still included her, and still treated her with respect. He offered her everything He had right where she was bogged down in sin. He did not use His knowledge of her sin to refuse her entrance, He used it as her key to get in.
All too often, we are quick to judge what we don't understand. When people around us make bad choices, our first response is to distance ourselves from them and avoid them. We use the visible sins of others to exclude them from our lives. But that is not what love does.
Love acknowledges the sin but still treats the person with kindness. Love does not look for places to draw lines and create divisions, it looks for ways to promote justice and unity, to heal and repair.
There are consequences for sin that cannot be avoided and love does not remove them. Love lets God deal with the sin while it encourages the person to get back up and start moving in the right direction again.
Love never fails.
1 Cor. 13:8
We all sin and we all need God's mercy and grace. Instead of putting people down, try helping them back up.
Reflect the love of God by giving others a hand up.
Heidirn
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