Today, we will look at two ways in which we look at how we measure our faith in our response to life.

First, let’s look at “Love God and love your neighbor.”

The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37)), tells of a man being attacked by robbers on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (from what I’ve been told, it’s a lonely road where travelers can be vulnerable to attack).  A priest happened by, but passed by on the other side of the road.  A Levite did likewise.  But then, a Samaritan – a foreigner who was less obligated to help according to social customs at the time – came upon the man and took care of him.

I have heard it said that the priest and Levite passed by the beaten man because contact with blood or a potentially dead body could have rendered them ritually impure, preventing them from engaging in temple responsibilities.  I have also read that saving a life supersedes ritual purity laws.

What about the choices we make today?  The commandments of “Love God and love thy neighbor” apply just as much today as they did when the parable of the Good Samaritan was told.  Surely, we’d like to think, we wouldn’t act like the priest or the Levite when coming upon a stranger who has been beaten and left along the side of the lonely road.

Let’s ponder this. 

• What about the perennially cranky relative who cut us off and hasn’t spoken to us in ten years?  If a hospital located two hours away called, telling us that the estranged relative had been beaten unconscious in a bar fight – would we drive the two hours to the hospital to see the unconscious relative?  Or would we wonder how the hospital managed to find us?  Would we justify staying away because “the upside-down relative shouldn’t have gotten themselves into this mess that they brought on themselves?”

• I volunteered in the prison system for twenty years.  I focused on people who I knew I could potentially help.  Toward the end of those years, one of the institutions asked me to work with a particular individual.  I didn’t hesitate to say yes.  After six months of working with this person, it was clear that the situation was going badly.  It would be easy for an outsider to say, “It wasn’t your fault.  You are a mainstream citizen who was volunteering in a difficult situation.  She’s the convicted felon.  Things going badly wasn’t your fault.“  Yet, I experienced moments of self-doubt.  “Maybe I didn’t properly apply known rehabilitative principles with this person.  Maybe I should have said this instead of that.”   I got turned into emotional knots and lost sleep over the situation.  Eventually, I spoke to a staff person at the institution who assured me that – in fact – there was nothing anyone could have done for the situation to turn out well.  One could argue that I “did my bit” by volunteering for so many years and “call it good.”   Ultimately, though, I recognize that “Love your neighbor means everybody” – even when it’s hard.  If living the commandments was easy, we wouldn’t have societal conflicts.   I had a responsibility to “find my way back” from the emotional knots of that difficult situation to having a positive mindset about volunteering in prisons and reentry.

• What about the likeable neighbor who is always the first person to help neighbors and who organizes the neighborhood picnic every summer?  When we discover that they have been neglecting a challenge in their own life and now their challenge is too much for them to solve on their own, do we step in to help even if their self-aggravating challenge is a type of problem that “drives us over the edge?”

• What about the older pet (cat, dog, etc.) we adopt who moves in and accepts our food and warm blanket, but who takes “too long” to become warm and sociable?  If the cat or dog only decides to become “warm and sociable” when we have an urgent deadline to meet at work and we really need to focus on that urgent deadline rather than petting the pet, do we give up some of our own sleep time to work on the work deadline after giving the pet a few minutes of our time?

Secondly, let’s look at how we deal with the challenges of our own lives.

When life gets challenging, sometimes an additional challenge that crops up at a hard time can feel like “too much.”

The hot water heater breaks in the morning, leaving you with no opportunity for a hot shower before an important meeting.  The car overheats on the freeway during rush hour – in the rain.  Your baby ends up in the hospital during “the gap period” between your previous health insurance ending and your new health plan “kicking in.”

Life challenges don’t always happen when it’s convenient or when we are feeling resilient.

Sometimes, we go down a dark rabbit hole amidst these challenges – like I did in the “prison example” (above).  “If I were handling life better, or made better decisions, or were more resilient, I could have prevented these challenges from happening or the challenges wouldn’t bother me so much.”  Sometimes, we get angry, discouraged, or disillusioned.

Pretending that we aren’t angry or discouraged doesn’t make the anger or discouragement go away.  At the same time, disillusionment isn’t life-affirming.   Staying angry or discouraged isn’t useful.    Anyone who has read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters knows that our difficulties are the devil’s opportunity to use psychological subtlety to pull us away from the good, love-filled life God intends for us.

What can we draw from and “lean into” amidst challenges to live the good, faith-filled lives God intends for us?   There is a clear road.

All roads point to the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity (also viewed as love).  In 1 Corinthians 13:13, Paul declared, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Growing into and actively living a life of faith isn’t easy. If it were easy, there would be less social, political, and economic strife in our world.   But, conscientiously growing more fully into a life of faith brings us to the life God intends for us.

There are questions we can lean into each day to grow into becoming the people God wants us to be:

• What specific mental or emotional negativity am I drawn into at any given time?  Anger? Despair? Frustration?  Lack of patience?   What skills can I learn to overcome these?  How can I rely better on God to overcome or avoid these?
• What does my faith tradition teach about how to draw closer to God today (faith)?
• What can do today to be more hopeful?
• How can I be more charitable and loving today?

We can more fully grow into the life that God intends for us.

Kim Burkhardt blogs about faith at The Hermitage Within. Thank you for reading this faith blog and for sharing it with your friends. While you are here, please feel welcome to provide support to sustain this blog ($$).