Our world is very confused about how to live, it seems to live by the mantra, “Do whatever makes you happy.” But what if your happiness leads to someone else suffering?
God’s law gives us a clearer answer. God’s love tells us to live for the good of others. In Deuteronomy we see lots of laws that are to protect others, especially the most vulnerable.
When Jesus was asked by the lawyer how to inherit eternal life (Luke 10), He points him to the summary of the law to love God and neighbour. That is how to live!
Well, what do you make of that? The lawyer, perhaps thinks this is a bit vague, maybe he’s looking for a loophole so that he can say he’s kept it! So he asks “who is my neighbour?”
The famous Good Samaritan parable is the answer. Who do you identify with? Maybe we admit that sometimes we’re too busy to help others, but on the whole we like to see ourselves as the good Samaritan. But what if we’re not any of the 3 people who came across the man? What if we are actually the man in the ditch? You see the truth is that the only man who has ever perfectly loved God and neighbour is the Lord Jesus. The rest of us have failed, and the result is we are dead in our sins. But wonderfully the Lord Jesus is not too busy to help. At great cost to himself, he descended to us to give us life. The paid in full for our recovery, his death on our behalf was the payment.
And it is only when you have been served by him that you came truly help others. We will never get it right all the time in this lifetime. But the more we see how Christ has served us, the more we will be able to live our lives, not for our own happiness but the serve others, and paradoxically we will find this leads to greater joy than if we aim for our own happiness, for this is what we are created for – love God and neighbour.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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