A certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. And
when he saw him, he had compassion."
(Luke 10:33)
Greetings! I pray
that all is well with you and
yours.
Every now and
then -- actually very often -- our
schedules will get interrupted.
Today's devotion, taken from Our
Daily Bread, encourages us to look
at these intrusions as opportunities
to serve God.
Divine Interruptions
A Samaritan made his way
down to Jericho and encountered a
wounded Jew lying alongside the
road. Others had hurried by, too
busy with their own affairs to be
interrupted.
But the
Samaritan, who was hated by the Jews and
would be expected to pass by, "had
compassion." He "bandaged his wounds, .
. . set him on his own animal, brought
him to an inn, and took care of him"
(Luke 10:33-34).
God's will
comes to us in strange ways, often in
the form of interruptions. Just when we
think our duties are done for the day
and we've settled in for a quiet evening
at home, someone calls on the telephone
or shows up on our doorstep asking for
our time. "Are you busy?" they ask.
The best thing
to do is to stop looking at these
intrusions as interruptions. Instead, we
should take them as opportunities that
God is sending us to serve those in
need—to listen well, to show love, to
help them on their journey toward
intimacy with God.
One early
Christian writer, Jean-Pierre de
Caussade, said, "Love is the duty of the
present moment." No matter what else we
may have planned, love is our duty.
"Who is my
neighbor?" I ask. Jesus answers, "The
person in need I'm sending your way."
—David Roper