42528233Want to know God’s will for you in 2005? Here it is:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” Luke 10:27 HCSB

I suspect this was not the answer you were expecting. Freedom is so characteristic of the modern era. Compared to folks in the past, we, today, have so much freedom to choose what work we do, whom we will marry, if we marry at all, where we stay, which church we align ourselves with, etc.

As a result we often think of God’s will for our lives in the particulars of our life. Should I take this job? Should I immigrate to another country? Should I get married?

In doing so however, we run the danger of missing the wood for the trees. As Douglas J. Schuurman reminds us in his book ‘Vocation’:

“Luther, saw paid work and other significant social relationships as domains not freely chosen, but providentially assigned to each person.” “One does not so much choose one’s callings as discover oneself within their network.”

Schuurman goes on to make the point that the Reformers understood vocation not in terms of self-fulfillment. He writes: “It is not fulfillment of the self but the glory of God and the welfare of the neighbour that ought to determine ‘vocational’ choices, insofar as there is room for choice.”

Most of us are so obsessed with searching for detailed maps for our lives that we ignore the compass that God has already given us.

What is this compass? In essence, that was what Jesus was telling the expert in the law in Luke 10:25 – 37. Jesus of course elicited the answer from the expert himself. What is life all about? Loving God with our total being. And loving our neighbour as ourselves.

Like the expert in the law, we also know the answer. Like the expert in the law, we too need help to move beyond right answers to right living.

As we begin a new year, how do we love God with our total selves? Jesus gives us two ways.

First, be a neighbour to those in need that you encounter in life, blessing even those who hate you. (Luke 10:29 – 37)

The story of the Good Samaritan is remarkable for so many reasons. One is the fact that the Samaritan knew that Jews looked down on him. He probably would have experienced rejection and derision from Jews many times in his life. Yet all that the Samaritan saw was a human being in need.

The Samaritan helped sacrificially, carefully, completely. He got his hands (and clothes) dirty. (It’s so hard to wash off those bloodstains.) He helped with no expectation of return.

If we truly love God, if we truly are children of God, this too must be our basic orientation in life. Who said Christianity was for wimps?

Loving sacrificially is tough enough. Loving even those who hate you? Well. We are going to need help. Which is why Jesus gives us another way we are to live out our devotion to God.

Another way we are to love God with our total selves is to make time to receive His Word. (Luke 10: 38-41)

Biblical scholars have long noted that the passage on the parable of the Good Samaritan is followed immediately by the passage on Martha and Mary.

Darrell L. Block summarizes the Martha-Mary passage thus:

“One of the facts of life is that its demands are all consuming. In fact much of life is spent fulfilling these demands. Such was Martha’s situation when Jesus visited her. In contrast, Mary simply sat down. She was not lifting a finger to help, and Martha was disturbed.”

“But Mary had made the right choice, according to Jesus. The disciple who reflects on Jesus’ teaching receives a meal that is never removed. To sit at Jesus’ feet is the disciple’s priority. The worries of life should never prevent one from consuming God’s word.”

The Good Samaritan passage, read in isolation, could lead us to a life of unbridled activism and burn out. The Martha-Mary passage, read in isolation, could lead us into a life of life-escaping mysticism. The two passages read together gives us the two movements of the life of one who truly loves God.

The Good Samaritan movement is the outward movement. We need to look at people through the eyes of Christ. We need to bless those that we encounter in life, sacrificially, intentionally. Even our enemies.

The Mary movement is the inward movement. If we truly love God, we must “waste time” in His presence, sitting at His feet, receiving His life sustaining word.

The two movements are inextricably bound together. There is no way we can be a Good Samaritan if we are not first a Mary. How can we feed others if we have not first been fed?

“Fed by the love of Christ, we love others.” This then is our mission statement for 2005. This is our mission statement for life.

I suspect that we will soon forget our compass. Which is why God will allow us to be in the ditch once in a while, rejected by those we thought would help us — to soften our hearts to those in need. And often we will end up like Martha — worried about many things, stressed out, angry — before we remember our Mary movement.

We can’t turn back the clock. We do live in an age where we have so much freedom to make choices for our lives. But while waiting upon the Lord to guide us at our various crossroads, let us not forget that we already have a compass.

“Fed by the love of Christ, we love others.” Unto His glory.

Your brother, Soo-Inn Tan