DAILY READINGS IN LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller (1890)

 September 3. My Neighbor

"
." Luke 10:33, 34

Now we must not conclude that the half-heathen Samaritans were better as a class, than the highly-favored Jews. Our Lord uses a Samaritan in His parable, because He wants to impress the law of love. No matter who the sufferer is that we come upon in any of life's paths — he is our neighbor. He may be a very worthless sort of man; but it does not matter — he is our neighbor. As we look closely at him — we may see that he is an enemy. Once he did us a bitter, cruel wrong, and he has no claim whatever on us for sympathy or for help; but it does not matter — he is our neighbor. The person of the human race that we find suffering or in need of any kind, becomes for the time our neighbor — the one neighbor to whom for the present we owe love.

There is more definition here: we learn what the word "love" means. You say, "I can't love hateful people; I can't love criminals; I can't love a poor tramp." Nobody expects you to love such people — as you love your wife, your child, your friend. It is not likely that this Samaritan had a tender affection for this wounded Jew while he was helping him. Samaritans were not in the habit of loving Jews very deeply. But he did not look at the man and calculate whether he loved him or not, before he began to attend to his wounds. Yet he loved him precisely as the commandment meant he should love him. His love was not a warm emotion; it was a very practical deed.

First it was pity: he had compassion on him. But pity is sometimes a very useless emotion — merely a tear that comes easily, and costs nothing. This good wayfarer had more than a tear. His pity got into his hands and into his pocket! He went to the man and bound up his wounds and helped him to an inn, and gave attention to him until he was restored.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

 HORACE MANN ON REFORMITORY FOR BOYS:

Marvelous Love of God.—Some have strongly felt the objection to the gospel, that it is not probable that the Son of the infinite God would leave all the measureless stars without redemption, and come to this little world, which is but a mote in the sunbeam compared with other worlds, and here become man and die for us, the almost invisible atoms in this obscure corner of the universe. But here the enigma is solved. Wherever the lost are, there he must go for them, the hearts of all the family go after the lost one.

"Some years ago," says Dr. Hastings in The Christian, "the late Horace Mann, the eminent educator, delivered an address at the opening of some reformatory institution for boys, during which he remarked that if only one boy was saved from ruin, it would pay for all the cost and care and labor of establishing such an institution as that. After the exercises had closed, in private conversation a gentleman queried Mr. Mann upon his statement, and said to him, "Did you not color that a little, when you said that all the expense and labor would be repaid if it only saved one boy?"  "Not if it was my boy," was the solemn and convincing reply.

NOTE: Whether secure in hand, or lost, the Good Shepherd knows His own and will search them out. (J. Ogles)

Former President Richard Nixon - 

 

 Tomb of Cyrus the Great, Pasargadae, Far Province, Iran, 1976. (Jerry Ogles with Col. Bob Burrus.

 THE FAMILY ALTAR

September 2.

"Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them

not; for of such is the kingdom of God." Mark 10:14

God bless the little children ! What eloquent preachers they

are for us older people with their unquestioning trust in our care

and love. Do they not daily remind us of our Lord's saying:

"Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the

kingdom of heaven"? How many a man and woman has learned

to pray again from their own soul while teaching their darling to

lisp its first prayer ! And how the unselfish and incessant care

of the little ones teaches us elders forbearance and patience and

simplicity ! What a strong bond of affection they establish between

all members of the household! Verily, Luther is right when he

says, we old folks eat with the little ones and not the little ones

with us. For their sake, that we might supply their wants, God

protects and blesses us, their guardians. And what a sweet com-

fort they prove in hours of deepest affliction to many a grieving

heart! Truly, children are a gift of God, and parents cannot be

too thankful for them. Yet it is awful to think how many of our

American parents neglect their most sacred duty to their children

by not bringing them to their Savior in Baptism and later to

faithful instruction in His holy, saving Word. They are robbing

their children of the divine right of being brought early to their

Savior and will have to give account to their God one day for

their negligence. Again, how many parents are so careless about

their acts or words in the presence of their little ones, forgetting

that they can give great offense to Christ's blood-bought little

lambs! "Take heed," our Savior warns, "that ye despise not one

of these little ones ; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels

do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. For

the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost." Matt. 18,

10—12.)

Thank God for little children!

When our skies are cold and gray,

They fling a sunshine o'er our hearts,

And charm our cares away.

Dear mothers, guard these jewels

As sacred offerings meet,

A wealth of household treasures,

To lay at Jesus' feet.