Some of you who read this blog may have seen a news report over the past few days of construction workers, students, and bystanders helping to lift a burning car off of a young man, and very likely saving his life in the process. This incident occurred two days ago in the town I live in (in fact, about four blocks from where I sit, typing this blog entry out).
I was somewhat captivated as I exercised yesterday, since the news story was on one of the TVs in the gym. I had to unplug from my ipod and listen in. The news person was interviewing the man who filmed the whole scene, which showed a group of about a dozen people lift the car up and drag the unconscious motorcyclist out from underneath it. And the thing that fascinated me was how this man kept saying that anyone would have jumped in to help if they had seen something similar.
I've seen that on a number of occasions in my life. While I haven't lived a life in which danger seems to lurk around every corner, I have seen times where people will put aside their own personal safety in order to help out another person in danger.
What makes us think that we would do that if we were in a similar situation? Why do such stories move us the way they do? I believe that part of the answer lies in how God created us. The Bible tells us quite early on that it is not good for us to be alone. We are supposed to live in community and in relationship with one another, and that means that we have something in common with all other people. They are, to use a biblical word, our neighbor.
Quite early on in the Bible, we also encounter an incident in which a man asks the question "Am I my brother's keeper?" A good portion of the rest of the Bible paints the answer to that question as YES. Yes, we are to care for one another. We are to help our neighbor in time of need. We are to care for each other, show compassion to each other, help each other, build up each other, and work on behalf of each other.
Because that is the way that God originally created us, we still see that care at work. Even though we live in a fallen, sinful world, that care for one another continues to be a part of who we are. That doesn't make us right with God, since only Jesus does that. But it does show how God created us to care for one another.
I was somewhat captivated as I exercised yesterday, since the news story was on one of the TVs in the gym. I had to unplug from my ipod and listen in. The news person was interviewing the man who filmed the whole scene, which showed a group of about a dozen people lift the car up and drag the unconscious motorcyclist out from underneath it. And the thing that fascinated me was how this man kept saying that anyone would have jumped in to help if they had seen something similar.
I've seen that on a number of occasions in my life. While I haven't lived a life in which danger seems to lurk around every corner, I have seen times where people will put aside their own personal safety in order to help out another person in danger.
What makes us think that we would do that if we were in a similar situation? Why do such stories move us the way they do? I believe that part of the answer lies in how God created us. The Bible tells us quite early on that it is not good for us to be alone. We are supposed to live in community and in relationship with one another, and that means that we have something in common with all other people. They are, to use a biblical word, our neighbor.
Quite early on in the Bible, we also encounter an incident in which a man asks the question "Am I my brother's keeper?" A good portion of the rest of the Bible paints the answer to that question as YES. Yes, we are to care for one another. We are to help our neighbor in time of need. We are to care for each other, show compassion to each other, help each other, build up each other, and work on behalf of each other.
Because that is the way that God originally created us, we still see that care at work. Even though we live in a fallen, sinful world, that care for one another continues to be a part of who we are. That doesn't make us right with God, since only Jesus does that. But it does show how God created us to care for one another.
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