Go And Do
“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” Luke 10:33-37
“Why,” I asked my mom. “Because I said so,” she replied. That was a recurring theme in my childhood. Yes, there were often other reasons behind it such as ‘the room was dirty and needed straightening up’ and ‘I have to be at an event by 7:00.’ There was always a motivation behind her comments of ‘because I said so.’ That would always leave me in the aftermath of the conversation with the next critical issue that I was left to ponder on my own. Now what? The marching orders were given, and if you knew my mom, you dare not cross her! The only thing that was left was to follow through on what was asked for, I certainly did not want to deal with the consequences. I had dealt with those often enough not to want that end of the bargain.
This led me to think about how God commands us to do things. We often ask the very same question that I would ask my Mom, and then we wonder what the answer is? The answer ends up being the same, but the consequences are not so easy to decipher. God kept a closer eye on me because it felt like every time when I did something wrong, there was almost immediate consequence. The soda I tried to take or the word I used at an inappropriate time seemed to have swift and immediate justice handed down. I do not mean to sound like a Law & Order episode, but that is what it felt like. Thus, I learned at an early age God was not to be trifled with. Sometimes, we just must go and do as He asks of us.
Trusting God requires us to often follow through even though we may not have the answer as to why. The parable of the Good Samaritan has such rich value in it. As I’ve written previously, it is a check and balance on who we are in the story. It is also a reminder that choosing to follow Jesus Christ requires our listening to Him. That means there will be times we are asked to act on His prompting. We all know Proverbs 3:5-6 that says:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Note that trust in God requires all our heart because as we know, our hearts are not always in alignment with our head, and that is often where we have that fundamental challenge. Why must I say ‘No’ when my heart says ‘Yes?’ I write this not because I have this down pat. I still struggle and fight this, but like those earlier lessons I learned, there are always consequences to making the wrong choice and going against what God wants. We as such need to remember those times to not fall into the trap of doing what we want above what God wants. It requires reading His word and thoughtful reflection on it. I say thoughtful reflection as it is not as simple as reading and doing for if it were that easy, we would have a lot of blindness in the world because Jesus did say to gouge out your eyes if it causes you to sin. Reflection causes us to not only read new information but also see if a passage studied before has taken on a different meaning because of a different season in your faith journey. And then of course, we simply must act. A favorite teaching of mine was from a pastor that reminded me that if we are on God’s team and God calls a play, He does not expect us to stay in the huddle and watch everyone run around. He wants us to go out and execute the play!
Following God’s Will is an exciting part of our journey. It is at times very black and white, but it can also be unclear and grey that requires wisdom and discernment. No matter how clear His direction may be or not, once we are made aware of it, our command is to do. That is why the words ‘go and do’ from today’s scripture matter. It is a simple reminder of God’s expectation is of us. Let us never lose sight of this. What is God asking you to do today? Where can you look in your life and begin to trust God’s instruction over your own? My prayer is that when God gives instruction, we simply go and do. Amen.