Kindergarten Samaritan
- Feb 2, 2015
- 3 min read
So many times I cannot help but use my children as examples for my own spiritual training. They have such fresh minds and hearts and give such an amazing outlook on life. A few days ago, my oldest boys were watching a movie about Jesus and Bible Stories. They were, as all children, extremely intrigued by the television. You wonder if their brains are drying up into prunes as the clock ticks by, but praying that something good is sinking in. I knew they had been watching the story about the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and I could hear my husband explaining some details of the somewhat gruesome story of a man being beaten and left for dead. My oldest son was asking many questions but then seemed oblivious to the stories when the scene changed.
Several days later, my oldest sons were climbing into the car and had begun fighting. My oldest was obviously annoyed beyond belief with his younger brother and could not help but feel satisfied when his little brother fell out of the car and hurt himself. He began to cry. My oldest son looked with much anger and slowly stepped over his crying brother and climbed into the car, content with winning the spot.
I quickly put my ‘Godly mom’ face on and decided that it was time for me to step in and teach him a lesson. I reminded Micah about how when we see someone hurting we are to show compassion on them. We are to have the heart of Christ and forgive whatever wrong they may have done to us. We are called to show mercy and grace, and do whatever we can to aid that hurt person.
To my surprise, my oldest son looked deeply into my eyes and informed me that he knew he was having a heart of selfishness and not helping his hurt brother, much like the men walked past the beaten man on the side of the road. He confessed that he knew he needed to help his brother, even though he was angry. I was stunned.
Mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter, whatever family member you are. Aren’t we all guilty of the same? We see those around us, those we love and those we do not, and we know they are hurting. They may not have physical bruises to show that they have been beaten, but we know, if we were to show genuine Christ-like compassion and concern, we would find out more than we could imagine.
Colossians 3:12-13 says, "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."
When we are faced with the option to focus our time and energy on people around us we are called to respond. We are called to have patience and humility, lowering ourselves to their pain. We are called to give life because ultimately our source of life has been given to us through Jesus.
Answer these questions together as a family:
1.How can we as a family be more intentional about caring for one another during hard times?
2.Where are you hurting? Where do you feel beaten down and left to die?
3.Who can you look for opportunities to minister to and stop leaving them to their pain and hardships?
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