What is standing in your way to serve the Lord?  Is there a stumbling block in our lives preventing you from serving the lord? Have we laid our own man-made rules that act as a stumbling block for doing good, being compassionate towards people? So what is standing in your way to serve the Lord?

Jesus spoke about the stumbling blocks we place in our lives preventing us from being compassionate.  One such example is presented in the parable of the good Samaritan.

Most may know the story, but do you know the full story?  Let’s look at Luke 10:30-35 to read the parable…

Attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 a priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 so too, a levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 but a samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 the next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘look after him,’ he said, ‘and when i return, i will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

In this parable of the good Samaritan, we have four people, a priest, a Levite, a Samaritan and the wounded individual.  What makes this parable special is that the Samaritan was a hated foreigner, who were despised and avoided at all costs by the Jews.  Furthermore, they wouldn’t even fathom that Christ would use an example of a foreigner to reprimand his people and their behavior.

One of the lessons in this parable focuses on the barriers that we create in our faith which act as a stumbling block for serving the lord.  For the priest & Levite it was their religion…

Jewish law considers a corps unclean, including a half dead one as described by Jesus.  Priests would obviously avoid this man and so would the Levites who helped the priests.  Jesus said that they saw the man and moved on to the other side.  They didn’t even feel compassion or care to help.

Their pursuit of the law prevented them from feeling compassion because they were preoccupied with following their own guidelines.  Instead, the one who came to his aide was a foreigner.  Someone, who was not constrained to the man-made rules and regulations.  He did what Christ would have done and his actions were in line with God’s will.   

The question we should ask ourselves is the following:

1. Do we have laws, regulations, prejudices, hate, constraints, or other factors in our lives that prevent us from being compassionate & loving towards people?  

• When we see someone in need, do we move to the other side of the road to avoid the person, or do we reach out and help?  How much do we love the lord and mankind?

Let’s pray that the lord grants us greater love and compassion.  Always remain in service to the lord and love others as the lord loves us.  If you are ready to receive the Lord and to join the body of Christ, pray this prayer, Lord Jesus I know that I am sinner and I ask you forgive me of my sins.  I believe that you were crucified for my sins and through your blood I have redemption and salvation.  Please come into my heart and I receive you as my God.  I pray in Jesus name. AMEN