I recently read a powerful quote! Perhaps we need to reverse the question.

The first question that the priest …and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the Good Samaritan … reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

This quote is referring to the Parable of the Good Samaritan given by Jesus Christ in Luke 10:25-37.

In this parable, Jesus is approached by a man asking how to receive eternal life. That is a reasonable question. Jesus answers the man’s question by telling a story. And the story goes on to show how 2 “religious people” did not show mercy to a neighbor. The one who did show mercy (the good samaritan) to the needy neighbor is the model example Jesus gives of the person who is to inherit eternal life because he now loves God and his neighbor through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now getting back to this quote, what is our focus as we see needy people? What is our heart as we encounter those who are lost and struggling? Are we trying to protect and save our own lives? Or are we trying to give up and lose our own lives? (Luke 9:24)

May we be like Jesus who “demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners” he died for us!

So the next time you let someone walk away; or the next time you just leave some folks behind; or the next time you give up on your church family; or the next time you ignore someone in need; or the next time you see someone suffering; or the next time you just make excuses, ask yourself “What will happen to him/them?”

–This quote comes from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech he gave on April 3, 1968 called “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top.”