See: Learn to See People the Way Jesus Sees Them

Week 1: Who Is My Neighbor? Tuesday

This Week’s Memory Verse

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

Psalm

Psalm 119:18: Read this passage slowly and let it turn your heart toward God.

Proverbs

Proverbs 18:15: Read this verse and consider how God’s wisdom shapes the way you live today.

Today’s Thought

The priest saw the wounded man. The Levite saw him too. Then the Samaritan came along…and he saw him.

All three men had eyesight. But only one allowed what he saw to interrupt what he was doing.

Philippians 2:3-4 tells followers of Jesus not to look only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. That is harder than it sounds.

Our schedules, responsibilities, problems, phones, plans, and pressures can consume so much of our attention that people become part of the scenery.

Mercy begins by paying attention

And as we develop a deeper, abiding relationship with Jesus, He changes the way we see people. The closer we follow Jesus, the more we begin to see people the way He sees them.

Sometimes the first step in loving our neighbor is simply slowing down enough to really see them:

not as an interruption, problem, or responsibility for someone else, but as a person Jesus loves.

Ask yourself today: Who am I not seeing because I’m too focused on me?

Pray

“Jesus, lift my eyes beyond myself today. Help me notice the people You place around me and see them the way You do. Amen.”

Today’s Mercy Step

Intentionally slow down in one ordinary place today. That place may be work, school, a store, your neighborhood, or home. Put distractions aside and notice the people around you.

Ask one person a genuine question and listen to their answer

Following Jesus by loving the people right in front of us…or next door,

Pastor Mark