OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26TH 2018- WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?

Memorise: And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. Luke 10:27
Read: Luke 10:25-37
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was 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.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Bible in one year: Jeremiah 23-24, Luke 11:14-32

AS REVEALED BY PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE IN TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

1. The title of today’s devotional is a question which precipitated the parable of the Good Samaritan. This question is even more relevant today because the character of good neighborliness is fast becoming a scarce commodity.
It is even more astonishing to find out that the brotherly love that helped the Church to grow in the early days of the Chrsitan faith is dwindling among 21st century believers but this should not be so. In Galatians 6:10, the Holy Spirit answered the question of who our neigbour is when He admonished us thus: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
To prevent any ambiguity, the Holy Spirit also gave us practical examples of what He meant in the above scripture in James 2:15-16, saying: “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food. And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”
Through this scripture, the Holy Spirit is saying that there is no good neighbourliness in theoretical spirituality that is not accompanied by action. In today’s Bible text, our Lord used the actions of the Samaritan to vividly illustrate good neighborliness, contrasting his charitable deeds against the selfish attitudes of the priest and the Levite. It is unfortunate that the actions of the latter two reflect what is happening among Christian brethren today. To the pastor, the sick child of a neighbor may die, as long as he is not late to preach somewhere. A chorister would not want to be late for choir practice, even though her fellow sister is critically ill somewhere.
Beloved, the Holy Spirit demands that we add virtue to our faith (2 Peter 1:5). When we add the virtue of good deeds to our faith, the task of evangelizing the world will become very easy to accomplish. The story was told of the General Overseer of a reputable church in Lagos, Nigeria, whose decision to accept Christ was motivated by the kindness of a Christian couple during the Nigerian civil war. He wondered what kind of people would give a bowlful of rice to him, a hungry fugitive who was about to die, at a time when food was terribly scarce. He found out that they were Christians, and there and then he decided to join them in serving Jesus. Beloved, let your faith come alive today with good works.

SHORT REFLECTION BY THE LIGHT POINTERS

Prayer Point: Father, please help me to add the virtue of good neighborliness to my faith, so that the light of Christ may shine through me to the world.

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