Some thoughts from today's sermon
From the book of John ~ in reference to the story of the Samaritan
From the book of John ~ in reference to the story of the Samaritan
woman at Jacobs Well
This love that we have from God should leave us with an "If, then"
perspective. If we have received forgiveness then we should
forgive. If we have received knowledge of Christ and His
goodness then we should share that knowledge with others. If we
have received unconditional, unprejudiced love from our Father
we should also give unconditional, unprejudiced love to one
another. How can we say that we love whom we have not seen
and then not choose to love those we do see who are hurting,
broken and lost?
The bucket that the Samaritan woman carried embodied the
extent of her understanding, the sum of her "religious experience"
of God.It held nothing of value and even though she came with it
empty, she could not bring herself to draw with it on behalf of
another because of what religion and prejudice had taught her.
Jesus didn't leave her in that position though and from her
experience with Him, the living Christ, she walked away from her
empty bucket and went to tell her whole village of the One she
had met who changed her life.
When we're all worried about what everyone else is doing and
how their behavior is effecting the world we're missing what God
wants to do for the world through our right standing with Him.
When we are in right standing, then we can hear His will for us
in this lost world. When we are in right standing, having forgiven
our enemies and released our prejudice and our predisposed
judgments, then and only then can we be filled and empowered to
obedience. THEN we can be a vessel that God can use to spread
truth, peace, hope and love. Without that crucial step, looking to
our own salvation, the cleanness of our own hearts, we are just
cracked and broken vessels that may eventually be tossed in the
fires that the very world we judge so harshly is burning in.
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