John Stott is quoted as saying, “We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.” Jesus tells us that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
This leads to the question, “well then, who is my neighbor”?
Is it simply the person who lives next to me or is there something deeper that God would want us to understand?
People in Jesus’ day asked the same question. Jesus told them answer in the way of a parable we commonly refer to as the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story we see that the person who showed mercy to someone who had nothing to offer him back was the one who was really loving his neighbor then He proceeds to tell those listening to the parable, “Go and do likewise.” “But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A Priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two silver coins 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.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Go and do likewise.
Go and help those who have been beaten and wounded by the enemy. Go and restore them to health. Provide for them with finances you have and give them the care that will bring them back to life. Go and show the love of God in a practical way by showing them mercy because God has done the same thing for you. This is a general principle of the Word of God that translates easily into missions work. You may not be able to go, but you can certainly send!
If we truly love God, then we will care about the things that are on His heart. God is on a mission and the focus of his attention is “all the peoples (ethnic groups) of the Earth.” (Matt 24:14)
“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” -Henry Martyn
