Joy of Obedience: Part 3

Do I joyfully obey Christ in caring for others? My obedience should always arise out of my love for Christ. “‘For I was hungry’ Jesus said, ‘and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me'” (Matthew 25:35-36).

The bag lady on the corner, the poorly dressed man who came to church last week, the woman ahead of you in line who can’t pay for her groceries, the child who doesn’t seem to fit in—all have one thing in common. They need help. Each one may have a different problem, but each has a need to be met. We are to share compassion, because of the sacrificial compassion Jesus had for us.

The bottom line is the fact that real Christians care with the love of Jesus. In the story of the Good Samaritan the religious by-passers should have been sensitive to the man who had been injured, but they remained aloof. Jesus asked the crowd listening to this parable who was really the good neighbor to the Samaritan. He must have smiled at their correct and obvious answer. He told them to go and do the same (Luke 10:25-37). What does this say about a holier-than-thou attitude? It says that Jesus in the human heart is always greater than the letter of the law.

C.S. Lewis wrote in his sermon “Weight of Glory”:

“The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.” Is the weight of your neighbor’s glory resting on your back?