Jonathan works in the CBN Digital Media Group as Creative Director, helping design the best user experiences for CBN's apps and digital properties. He has an M.A. in Communications and an M.Div in Church & Ministry from Regent University. He loves the word of God and enjoys writing and sharing when the opportunity presents itself.
Have you ever wanted to add a footnote to “Love your neighbor as yourself”?
Yes, of course we are to love others, but:
If they’ve formerly cheated on a spouse, they only get partial love and zero trust.
If they’re mean to you, God has clearly called a different Christian to love them.
If they’ve verbally attacked your family, it’s OK to get a little personal payback.
If they’ve disagreed with you on a theological belief, you don’t have to do ministry together.
If their political view is xxxxx, you can smile in church, but go ahead and invest in someone else for fellowship.
John tells us a story of Jesus making a point to travel through Samaria (John 4:3-42
So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.* She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?" Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." "But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?" Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." "Please, sir," the woman said, "give me this water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water." "Go and get your husband," Jesus told her. "I don't have a husband," the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!" "Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim,* where our ancestors worshiped?" Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it's here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus told her, "I AM the Messiah!"* Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, "What do you want with her?" or "Why are you talking to her?" The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" So the people came streaming from the village to see him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, "Rabbi, eat something." But Jesus replied, "I have a kind of food you know nothing about." "Did someone bring him food while we were gone?" the disciples asked each other. Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, `Four months between planting and harvest.' But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe* for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, `One plants and another harvests.' And it's true. I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest." Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, "He told me everything I ever did!" When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world."
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). Back then Jews generally had no dealings with Samaritans. Some despised the Samaritans even more than Gentiles, as they were considered half-breeds and practitioners of a perversion of the true Jewish faith.
It’s here Jesus meets a woman gathering water while his disciples are off getting food. Women would typically gather water in the morning when it was cool. This woman had come at noon, alone. We don’t know a lot about her, but we find out she had gone through five husbands and the man she was currently with was not her husband. Is this why she chose to avoid gathering water in the morning? To endure the gaze of the hot sun rather than the gaze of the other women? Perhaps.
Jesus starts a conversation. If passing through Samaria wasn’t bad enough, now Jesus is alone with a less than reputable Samaritan woman drinking from her cup at a public well. Not the best image for a Jewish Rabbi.
The woman marvels: “Why would this Jewish man approach a Samaritan woman like me in the heat of the day?”
The disciples return and marvel: “Why would the master approach a Samaritan woman like that at any time of day?”
Though culturally and religiously in opposition, both groups are in agreement here. “Jesus is not behaving the way we expect religious Jews to behave.”
Loving others was not a new concept for the disciples. They would have known the scripture:
“...you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”Leviticus 19:18
"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
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Yet the way Jesus loved revealed their (and perhaps sometimes our own) shallow view on what it looks like to love others.
Jesus shows us a love that is not convenient. He shows us a love that is extended without expectation of reciprocation. Jesus shows us a love that intentionally seeks out those who society—and sometimes religion— have deemed unlovable.
And we marvel. We marvel because it’s a love not of this world. It’s unnatural, undeserved, and often unrequited.
But this is what separates Christian love from the love of the world:
But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.Luke 6:32-33
"If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!
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There will be moments in our lives when we have the opportunity to love sacrificially: to approach the person nobody else will approach, to return compassion for hatred, to give with no thought of return. Today and every day, let us be on the lookout for such opportunities. They may first appear as problems, obstacles, or inconveniences. But it is this type of love that will cause the world to marvel and acknowledge the work of God in our lives.
Wait, God, you want them to surrender? Surely there must be a mistake. This is the nation that bears Your name. These are the people renowned among the nations for their miraculous exodus from the mightiest nation at the time (Egypt), those who host the very presence of God Almighty in their temple, having been entrusted with the law and priestly ordinances—a shadow of the heavenly things on earth. Surely such a lowly act would reflect badly on Your covenant people and upon Your name.
Yet it is precisely because Israel (and you and I today) was in a covenant relationship with God that He caringly reached out to discipline and restore. The Bible passage above takes place at a time where God's covenant community has openly committed grievous acts against Him, despite His love and patience. Rather than wiping them all out and starting over, God takes stern and intense action as one would take with a dear patient who is systematically being destroyed by cancer.
God will give Israel over to Babylon so they can learn to trust Him again; this is already predetermined (Jeremiah 38:3
The LORD also says: `The city of Jerusalem will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.'"
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). Yet even in this, God is being merciful. Those who trust God enough to surrender willingly to His discipline will be saved. Sometimes we run from the discipline of our heavenly Father because:
"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed." Hebrews 12:11-13
No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
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God was concerned more with Israel's hearts than the city, its walls, and even the temple (all which were destroyed). At the end of the day, He will be glorified with or without any great structures (insert churches, T.V. ministries, countries, or any other thing we may be tempted to boast in) or even any of us. In the meantime, the husbandman desires to shape and prepare a lovely and holy bride for the final wedding.
We will stumble and fall sometimes, but let us fall into the hands of a loving and restoring God. Even when traveling through our personal Babylon, submitting to God's directive will always yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Here are a few helpful things to remember when going through discipline, as every Christian will:
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Hebrews 12:7
As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
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1) God is a perfect father (Psalms 18:30
God's way is perfect. All the LORD's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
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2) God is concerned for you (Luke 12:7
And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
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3) God desires to conform you to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn* among many brothers and sisters.
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4) Those who follow Christ desire to be conformed to His image (John 15:9-10
"I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love.
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