Promises Promises

Tonight's family devotion was on promises to God. We had to make a promise and write it down. Talk about tough! I promised to spend quiet time with God every day. That's going to be a big one and the kids are going to be watching for it, which makes it even harder.

Why is it harder to keep a promise to God when people are watching?

Isn't that backwards?

Shouldn't it be EASIER when just people are watching? Shouldn't it be more disconcerting when we know God is watching? But God remains silent so much that we tend to blow Him off. People say things we can hear. God is easier to ignore. But shouldn't God's disappointment in us mean more to us? Why do I feel guiltier when people are watching me mess up than when God is watching me mess up? Why do I feel worse when someone here on earth sees my mistakes than I would normally? God sees all my bloopers and blunders - even the ones that are in my head and nobody else can see!

When God makes a promise, He keeps it faithfully. We can trust that there will never be another worldwide flood because God promised and used a rainbow as a reminder of that promise. May I learn to look to God for approval, not man. May my own promises be as faithfully kept as God's promises are!

Love Your Neighbor

Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment includes "Love your neighbor as yourself." What does that mean? Someone even asked him "Who is my neighbor" which launched Jesus into the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most of us are familiar with that story. The story focuses on how a man, being beat up and left for dead, doesn't receive help from the religious leaders of the time, but from a Samaritan man, who, from the Jewish point of view, is the scum of the earth.

OK - I would guess that I am the man who was beaten up and left for dead. The lesson is that we should not expect to receive help from the higher-ups, but accept it from the scum. I can live with that.

But I don't think that's the point Jesus was trying to make.

The Jews thought of themselves as better than the Samaritans for a lot of reasons, but Jesus is telling us to be like the Samaritan, not the Jew. Jesus isn't telling us where our help will come from. Jesus is telling us to get down off our high horses - that those so-called 'scum' are better than we are!

Hurts a bit, doesn't it?

Who are the 'scum' today? For a lot of us it's the people who actually look dirty. They often don't have a lot of money to spend on name-brand cleaners or water softeners so their clothes don't come as clean. Their washers and dryers aren't as efficient, or maybe they have to go to the laundrymat and put it off because of the cost. Some are wearing hand-me-downs so old that 'bright' left years ago. Some are working such dirty jobs that getting clean is not a visual possibility, that the stains are permanent, or they are sun-scorched unevenly and therefore look a bit 'dusty' all the time.

I could probably learn to live with that and overlook that to the inner heart like God does.

Then there are those who truly are unclean and smelly. They may have a physical condition that causes the smell or prevents regular bathing. They may be homeless and unable to bathe. Whatever the reason, we need to see that Jesus was talking about them, too.

Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your neighbor as yourself.

Can you love from afar? We sure want to sometimes, don't we? But can we really do it? Think of your children. Can you show your children your love without ever getting near? Of course not. So what do you do?

We have got to change the way we think.

In our society, we are bombarded regularly with how to move up in the world. A better house, a better car, better furniture, better beds, better cleansers for body and house, and they all lead to better ways to pull away from the people we are supposed to love the most. If we are constantly concerned about making more money to 'get a better something,' then we are working more. If we are working more, then we are home less. If we are home less, then we have less time to make the house as presentable as it should be - like on TV, right? Their houses are never messed up like mine! - and we spend all our time doing that.

We have got to start making time to help those around us - especially as a church. Sending money to far-away places is easy and clean and quick. We need to get down off our own spiritual high horses and get dirty! The man who was beaten in the parable was messy. He was bleeding. He would have made the helper 'unclean' for quite some time. Are you willing to get a little dirty for God?

There are all kinds of ways we can better help those in our community. Every town I've lived in has volunteer opportunities. Where is God calling you to help? Maybe it's not even the organizations you are called to help. Maybe it the crazy man across the street, or the cat lady down the road. Make extra dinner some night and give it away. Invite someone over to eat with you. Take down the walls we erect in our lives and invite people in.

You're afraid, aren't you? Someone might make fun of you when you ask them to come over. Someone might refuse to accept you dinner offering. They might do something wierd at dinner or stay too late. They might be mean or talk about you to their friends later.

Just what are they going to say? "I can't believe that neighbor! She cooked dinner for me! How dare she do that!" No - they might be a little suspicious of you actions, but doing nice things is not a bad thing! Try it 5 times. You'll be hooked before you know it.

Doing nice things for people is the best drug around. Believe it or not, it is God's own pain reliever. Our brains release natural chemicals into our bodies that make us happier and less painful when we do things selflessly.

Train your brain - do something nice for someone else once a week until Christmas. Go even further and do it anonymously! Try to outdo yourself each wee and just see what happens!

I dare you!