Global Neighbors

For the first time in history the entire world is our neighbor. Isn't that amazing?

I'm reading a book called 'The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, the President of Worldvision. At one point in the book, Stearns reflects on the well known parable of the Good Samaritan. Realizing, that the Good Samaritan story is Jesus' response to the question "Who is my neighbor?", Stearns emphasizes that Jesus is telling us 'neighbor' has nothing to do with race, social status, or economic status. Instead, neighbor is simply defined as any person we see in need.

If I can see the need, I am a neighbor - and therefore should use whatever resources I have to help.

This challenged me as I watched the horrific destruction in Haiti. My initial response, and unfortunately my most common one to these type of disasters, was to try and ignore the situation. I did not want to stop and see what was going on there because I didn't want to feel bad. After all, why should I ruin a good week of feel-good K-State basketball?

Then I slowly began to realize that according to Jesus, these Haitians are my neighbors, and there is no excuse for ignoring them. God has blessed me with resources and if I don't help out, I am no different than the Priest who walked by the injured man on the other side of the road.

For the first time in history the entire world is our neighbor. TV and the internet allow us to see their need. So the question becomes, will we be good neighbors?