Luke 10:34,35 The Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins...
It was told to me so long ago that I don't remember all the details or even if it was told as a warning illustration or if it actually was a true story. If it was a true story, it is a very sad one.
Shortly after democracy and the opportunities for evangelism poured over Eastern Europe like a flood, an AG missionary came to a small town for a few days of services and also got permission to show a kids Jesus video in the local school where each student also received a Jesus storybook. After that week the missionary went on his way to the next town but those students with their storybooks remained.
Sometime during those next few days one of those kids was sitting around reading it when a sharply dressed young man came up and asked him what he was reading. When the kids showed him, that man asked him if he would like to know more about the Jesus in the book. The discipling of those young and eager kids was the beginning of the Jehovahs Witness in that part of the world.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is not an incredibly long one. Today you could drive it in about 45 minutes, and even an old mule with arthritis and a limp could make it in less than a day, but the Good Samaritan spent the night at an inn. He recognized that his responsibility as a good neighbor did not end when he pulled the victim out of immediate danger. In the same way our responsibility does not end when a sinner repents.
Too often I am guilty of thinking that conversion is the end product of my efforts and prayers. I will pray, and plan, and preach until someone says the sinners prayer and then move on investing my time and energy into someone else. Then I wonder why it didnt stick. God has not called us to make converts. The only command in the Great Commission is to make disciples. This takes time. This is an investment. This means staying with them for as long as it takes.
God, I repent of my shallowness. Im sorry for the mentality that keeps me moving from one big thing to another without laying a foundation, without digging deep. Help me to truly invest my time and heart into the people you have placed in my life even when it isnt easy, fun, or convenient. Help me to stay for as long as it takes.
