Seize the Opportunity to Serve
By Rick Warren
“Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now” (Proverbs 3:27-28 The Message/GNT).
Love is something you do. Love doesn’t just say, “I feel sorry for what happened to that guy. Isn’t it a shame? Isn’t that too bad?” Love seizes the moment.
For instance, in one of Jesus’ most familiar parables, the Good Samaritan did several things to seize the moment. Some translations say he even “stooped down.” In other words, he got on the man’s level. He didn’t pretend he was superior, and he didn’t talk down to him (Luke 10:34).
Second, the Good Samaritan used what he had. He dressed the man’s wounds with wine and oil. Why? That’s what he had on his donkey. The wine worked okay because it’s alcohol. It’s an antiseptic. The oil worked okay because it would be soothing to the man’s wounds.
Then the Bible says the Good Samaritan dressed the man with bandages. Where did he get the bandages? This guy wasn’t a doctor. He didn’t have a first aid kit. And the hurt man had been stripped naked, so he didn’t have any clothes. The bandages were from the Samaritan’s own clothes.
The Good Samaritan did what he could with what he had at that particular moment.
The world is full of wounded people. Do you ever wonder how many people you walk by every day who are wounded? Maybe they’re not wounded physically, but they’re wounded emotionally. They’re wounded spiritually. They’re wounded financially. And they need your love. They need your kindness.
Don’t wait for better conditions. Don’t wait until it’s more convenient. Don’t put off what you know you can do for someone today. God will be with you as you seize the moment.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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