Daily Devotional for Friday February 7, 2003
Killing Our Wounded
(Luke 10:33,34)
Killing our wounded. It has been said many times that the Christian army is the only army that kills its wounded. How true. In these verses from the famous Good Samaritan story, it is interesting the religious men who saw the wounded traveler passed by on the other side. How that is like religious people today. Rather than unconditionally helping someone who is down, hurting, they sit back and talk about how the person got that way. They talk about the sins in their life that put them in that wounded state. They talk with spiritual pride about how they could never do the things the wounded person did. They almost take joy in seeing their brother or sister hurting. Trust me, I know that the mail is going to start pouring in from this devotional before it is even 5 minutes old. People will be outraged that I had the audacity to say such things. The trouble is, they are true!
How easy would it have been for Jesus to condemn the adulterous woman at the well. Instead he talked to her and rather than condemn her, tried to show her another way. Each day in these devotionals, I sometimes point out words, God's, not mine, to try and warn you from behavior that could lead to great heartache and pain. God loved you so much that He put these warnings in His Word to try and save you from going through the tragedies so many are going through every day because they chose to ignore God and do it their way. But what is our response to be to the one who has rebelled, the one who has fallen, the one who is hurting? Condemn them? Tell them how stupid they are? Ignore their pain and keep on going with our own life?
I want you to think hard today about how you respond to people who have fallen. Those who are hurting. God still loves them, He didn't stop loving Adam and Eve even though He punished them. God doesn't stop loving us even though we have failed Him. I pray today that you will allow God to use you as an instrument of healing in the life of someone who is hurting today. Right now, this very second, you know someone who needs love, support, and kindness. You know someone who is "laying wounded by the side of the road" that God has placed in your path to minister to. Will you respond to that opportunity the way those religious men did on that dusty Jericho Road? The way so many "religious" people respond today? Or will you be like the Good Samaritan and help that person recover. God is challenging you through these very words to be like the Good Samaritan and help those who are fallen, hurting, needing His love.
I love you and care about you so much. Let me challenge you one last time. Find someone today that is hurting and needs help. Go there with the love of Christ and let them know that Jesus loves them, cares for them, and will help them get back on their feet. I am praying for you. I am continually challenged what a few, for the most part, uneducated men who followed a Jewish carpenter 2000 years ago were able to do in regard to touching the world. With the great technology that we have today, how much can a few sold-out for Jesus people do if we are serious? Let God make a difference in your life, and go make a difference in the lives of those around you!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller