Oh no! Elfie has lots of boo boos! What happened? We have to help him! These were the words coming from the boys this morning when they found Elfie. A little different from most mornings for sure. Today was a lesson in what it means to love our neighbor.
25 One day an authority on the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to receive eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you understand it?”
27 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind.’ (Deuteronomy 6:5) And, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ” (Leviticus 19:18)
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do that, and you will live.”
29 But the man wanted to make himself look good. So he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him. They stripped off his clothes and beat him. Then they went away, leaving him almost dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that same road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 A Levite also came by. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side too. 33 But a Samaritan came to the place where the man was. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him. 34 He went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey. He brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins. He gave them to the owner of the inn. ‘Take care of him,’ he said. ‘When I return, I will pay you back for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?”
37 The authority on the law replied, “The one who felt sorry for him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do as he did.”
To be honest, this one was pretty simple and self-explanatory. The boys knew very quickly who the good neighbor was and what the right thing to do was. There was no need for me to really add anything to this one. We made our ornament craft as usual. Johnathan was supposed to be painting brown hair on the little fella but he got a little excited and painted his whole head brown. He tried to wipe some off with a baby wipe and then just stared at him, shrugged his shoulders and said, “well maybe he was a brown person like Ms. Tanya.” Haha, maybe he was my boy! 🙂
We talked about how this story happened a long time ago, but there are people hurting all around us that need help. So for part of our service this month we are going to make some care packages that we can give out to people we see on the street asking for help. They will have gloves, chap stick, toothbrush, soap, deodorant, these type things. This is just one way that we can be a “good Samaritan” to our neighbors. I love that our boys are developing a heart for service! I can’t wait to be able to take them on a mission trip and truly be able to do more with them!
My challenge to you today……how are you “loving your neighbor” this Christmas season? What could you do to touch the life of another that you aren’t doing? I am not talking about money, I am talking about you giving a little of you. We can all do something to touch the life of another for the good.
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