Luke 10:25-27

Culturally, we stand aloof to the characters in the story of the Good Samaritan. We can, from a distance, judge the priest and the Levite to be just typical Pharisees, and say,”I would never act like that.”

But what if we modernized the story a little bit…

Instead of a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. Let’s say our story involves a Baptist Preacher, A song-leading deacon, and an atheist (or worse yet, a Muslim!).

I'll not take the time to draw comparisons between these characters and the original ones, but I don’t want us to miss the point that Jesus is making. The Jews of that day viewed Samaritans in much the same way that Christians view atheists or Muslims today.

Now, I believe that all men should worship God according to the Bible. Therefore, I think all men should follow the doctrines of grace in true Christianity. Having said that, I do not believe that there is anything that man can do to justify himself in order to gain the merits of heaven including the doctrine he believes. We are freely justified solely by the blood of Jesus Christ.

But, our walk here on earth as disciples SHOULD look like what we profess to believe. An atheist giving a handout is much more Christ-like in his behavior than the Christian who judges him for his atheism.

We are not in the place of judgment of another person’s standing before God. We have neither the wisdom nor the holiness to make such decisions. However, we can see when a person (regardless of culture, color, or religion) is acting like Jesus. When we see this, we should glorify our Father which is in heaven not attempt to judge another person’s motives.