Jesus was once asked, "Which is the greatest commandment?" The one asking the question had a bad motive, and expected a totally different answer, but Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:34-39).
Jesus was really giving us the heart and soul of what the Christian life is all about. One's core value of commitment is to God. Out of this value springs the second most important: to love others as one loves himself as the bench mark for that love. This means that when this teaching of Jesus is taken to heart, it becomes the driving force, or top value, in every decision we make.
The "Good Samaritan" didn't have to stop and do a lot of thinking about whether he should help the victim or not. He had made that decision long before he took this trip. He had a built-in value that said, "I love people...I will help people in need." It was a natural impulse that grew out of who he was.
A few years ago I was in Russia on a mission trip with Lawrence Hazelip. He had been my mentor since I was a teenager. I knew him well. It was no surprise that as we were going to visit a Russian Orthodox Church and there were beggars just outside the gate, Brother Hazelip dropped something in each one’s basket. This is who he was. He didn't ask the beggars how they got there, nor did he stop and preach them a sermon. He simply acted like himself. It was a natural response growing out of his basic values.
A good way for us to prepare for decisions about helping others is to continue to imbed more deeply in our hearts these values that Jesus presented as being the most important two in all of the teaching of God: "Love God, and love your neighbor."
- Bill Long
