Good Monday, Church. I hope your week got off to a great start yesterday, and I pray you’re still going strong today. If you were here at Manchester yesterday and heard me preach about Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), you know that God expects us to live with that same compassionate spirit.
I hope you are finding ways this week to put Jesus’ teaching into practice. There’s just no way for us t
o effectively preach Christ to the world if we aren’t willing to interact the world with compassion and grace. There’s no way around it.
And, yes, I know that’s difficult at times. Sometimes it’s even dangerous. It’s almost always sacrificial. But when God decided long before he spoke light into existence that he was going to create us and save us, he knew that he would have to come in the flesh to live with us, serve us, teach us and die for us. He knew all that, and he still came. And he died. But then he came to life again for us.
If God calls you to give something up this week for the good of people around you, go ahead and do it, and your Father in heaven will be the one to reward you. You can’t give up anything that God can’t replace with something better. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try it.
I pray that God gives us opportunities to step out in faith and show compassion to our neighbors this week.
God bless,
Patrick