Last night we watched the College Football National Championship Game played in Arizona. Clemson and Alabama battled it out on TV and Alabama was crowned national champs. The question I asked myself before, during and after the game was ... "What made these teams able to reach the pinnacle of their sport?"
The answer could be many things like recruiting, hard work in the weight room, learning solid fundamentals and great coaching. But there is one factor that is indisputable. The two teams that played were there because they were able to actively apply their craft in a real-game situation. In fact, they did this so well they bested the field of all college football teams in their division to make the final game.
Jesus was all about this active application of what we call our faith. He told a story about an act of great kindness that was perpetrated by an unlikely individual ... a lowly and hated Samaritan. The Samaritan was kind to a Jew who had been robbed, beaten and left to die. The Samaritan picked up the unclean/bloody man, carried him to shelter, paid for the cost of caring for him and assured the caregivers that he would pay any extra expenses that were incurred. All of these actions were overt, unexpected, sacrificial and necessary to the goal of saving the Jew's life.
After the story was over (by the way ... Jesus is recruiting the crowd, coaching them, motivating them and teaching them fundamental beliefs) Jesus does something that we should both perceive, understand and apply. He tells the crowd to "go and DO likewise." Jesus understood that without active application of the coaching, potential, knowledge and belief, nothing good would result. God's Word is application ... not just information. So ... go and DO likewise! Randy
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