Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of song and lyrics from the group Sidewalk Prophets singing … You Love Me Anyway … powerfully singing of the reality of God’s love extended to anyone/anywhere/anytime … just as we should extend His love thru us to others, building bridges rather than walls.
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 4:9 [NLT] … 9 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 never discriminated against anyone/anytime because they were sinners or different than He.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 4:7-14, 39-42 [NLT]… USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus showed the Samaritan woman His love/grace in spite of their ethnic/social differences
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 53:6 [NLT] … 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.
… And the Lord laid on Himself my sins; and the sins of all mankind, building a bridge to eternity for us all.
Reference Passage : … John 3:16-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus loves all … everywhere … so much so that He died to save everyone.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 3:28 [NLT] … 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
… In Christ all social/ethnic/racial walls are broken down and bridges are built with His love and grace extended to others.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Lawrence Darmani, uses the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well to show how we must, as did Jesus, build bridges between our differences rather than walls. (see photo) … The Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well had a similar difficulty with discrimination. The Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. When Jesus asked her for a drink, she said, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9). As she began to open up to Jesus, she had a life-changing experience that positively affected her and her neighbors (vv. 39–42). Jesus became the bridge that broke the wall of hostility and favoritism.
The lure to discriminate is real, and we need to identify it in our lives. As Jesus showed us, we can reach out to all people regardless of nationality, social status, or reputation. He came to build bridges.
Discriminate? Who, … me?! …
Very few of us think of ourselves as a racist or sexist, do we? But what about it when I have the choice to sit with someone new that I’ve never met at a church dinner and I choose to sit with someone I’ve known for years, … especially if that new person is not of my race or dresses a little weird in my estimation? … Discriminate? … No, not me!
Did Jesus ever discriminate or build walls between Himself and anyone else, like the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4? No, Jesus was not a wall builder; He was a bridge builder! And that’s what we should be too!!
So, with some degree of conviction, I pray that I (we) will become bridge builders today as pictured in the photo and emulating the One Who loved me in spite of myself as the Sidewalk Prophets sing in the linked song.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for building the bridge of Your love/grace which brought me to Yourself for eternity.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all who read me here will reach out today and build a bridge for someone to cross over and find You waiting with open arms. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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