Wednesday, 19th February
LOVE IS ACTION NOT ACTING
Luke 10:30-37 KJV
“And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him , And went to him , and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise”.
Due to the length of today’s text, I will not spend too much of time and space to elaborate so much on the issues here. The text is about love for neighbour, and determining who a neighbour really is. Also, we see three major characters here, in the persons of the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan, and we observe in the passage, there was an ‘action’ and there was an ‘acting’.
Acting is when you get to speak about love, without doing anything about it. Acting is appearing to love someone but abandon them when they desperately need your love. In our text, we could see that the actors were the priest and the Levite. People who have been saddled to speak on behalf of God to the people. People who get to teach and preach about love due to their position in the temple and among the people, but Jesus said they never do what they preach.
But we see the Samaritan here, not religious; no post or position in the temple or synagogue, just a simple everyday person. They don’t know how to act, rather, they just take action. The priest and the Levite had the chance to take some love action, but they pretended not to see it, they passed the other way. But the Samaritan moved with compassion and took care of the man till he was well.
Question: Who are you, an actor or an action taker? Do you love in deeds or just in words?
Jesus did not Talk Love, He took action; He died for you. Receive grace to love in deeds in Jesus Name.
Action Points
- Practically love someone today.
- Meet someone’s need today; someone that cannot pay you back.
- Ask God to reveal and forgive all forms of hypocrisy in your life when it comes to love in Jesus Name.
Prayer
-Lord please teach me how to love in deeds and not just in words.
-Father please forgive every instance in my life when I acted like the Levite and the Priest in Jesus Name.
-I receive the spirit of love and sound mind in Jesus Name.
Nugget
Who are you, an actor or an action taker? Do you love in deeds or just in words? Jesus did not talk love, He took the greatest action of love; He died for you!
For Further Reading and Meditation
MORNING
Joel 2; 1Peter 1
EVENING
Psalms 100