{"id":1976,"date":"2020-04-03T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1976"},"modified":"2020-03-19T05:41:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T10:41:22","slug":"what-happens-when-we-want-to-justify-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/04\/03\/what-happens-when-we-want-to-justify-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WANT TO JUSTIFY OURSELVES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBut he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, \u201cAnd who is my neighbor?\u201d (Luke 10:29 NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we want to justify ourselves, we get put in our place.  The gentleman speaking is a lawyer trying to justify himself.  He\u2019s using his legal expertise to interrogate Jesus. He wants to know who he has to love and who he doesn\u2019t.  He\u2019s looking for a loophole in the greatest commandment:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus replied: \u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u2019 This is the first and greatest commandment. <\/em> <\/em><\/strong>And the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 <\/em> <\/em><\/strong>All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.\u201d (<\/em>Matthew 22:36-40 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we try to justify our actions, we get put in our place.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawyer doesn\u2019t want\u00a0 to love everyone. He wants to love those he wants to love. He wants Jesus to define clearly who his neighbor is so he knows who he has to love and who he doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Jesus’ reply to him is the tale of the good Samaritan. Here\u2019s a short video<\/a> that is worth the 1:39 it takes to watch, a beautiful depiction of the story.\u00a0 The Samaritan, who is despised in this culture at this time, is the only one who helps an injured man along the road.\u00a0 Two other religious men had walked past and not offered to help. The Samaritan not only helped him on the road, but he took him to lodging and made sure he had everything needed.\u00a0 He paid his bill with his own money. Jesus used this story to define, not only for the lawyer, but us, who our neighbor is: everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This lawyer was looking for a pass on having to love everyone, Jesus didn\u2019t give it to him.  He was trying to justify why he could treat some people differently than others, Jesus put him in his place.  There is no loophole when it comes to loving people. The fact that the lawyer was looking for justification indicates he knew he was wrong.  When we\u2019re trying to justify our actions, it\u2019s often an indication that we\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justification is trying to prove you\u2019re right.  But life isn\u2019t about right or wrong, it\u2019s about loving God and loving people.  Jesus wants us to find a way to love everyone, no matter what the situation. Sometimes the best way to love people is from afar.  Sometimes the best way to love them is tough love. Sometimes the best way to love people is by saying nothing at all. But without a doubt, no matter who they are, the best way we can love them is praying for them.  We can pray they know Jesus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who can you pray for today that needs Jesus?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading:  <\/strong>Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19 NIV<\/a>, Luke 10:13-37 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 75:1-10 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 12:12-14 NIV<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, \u201cAnd who is my neighbor?\u201d (Luke 10:29 NIV) When we want to justify ourselves, we get put in our place.  The gentleman speaking is a lawyer trying to justify himself.  He\u2019s using his legal expertise to interrogate Jesus. He wants to know who he has… Continue reading WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WANT TO JUSTIFY OURSELVES<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1976"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1978,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976\/revisions\/1978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}