Tag: Commit

Living in the Image of God, What The Lord Has Given Us

Are You My Neighbor: Individual Responsibility in Call for Assistance

Living in the Image of God M06S01

This study begins a series on understanding God’s intentions for “what the Lord has given us.” We will learn through the series that every gift of God comes with three attributes: full ownership, total control, and a mandated communal purpose. We begin with a discussion of Christ teaching on the individual responsibility regarding a neighbor’s call for assistance, whereby God transmits a call to compassion via a human channel to a human recipient. He informs the recipient regarding circumstances of a person needing goods or service that they cannot provide for themselves. The call recipient is to use what God has given him or her to provide assistance to the needy. God charges the recipient to recognize the need and needy; care about the needy; commit to doing what you can; and, motivated only by care, persevere in seeking to alleviate the need. We discuss the Parable of Good Samaritan to understand the individual responsibility to recognize and respond to a neighbor’s call for assistance.

This study begins a series focused on understanding God’s intentions for “what the Lord has given us.” We will understand through the series that God’s gift to every person comes with three attributes. The first attribute is full ownership: that is, every person has full ownership of what God has given him or her. The second is full control: that is, every person has full authority to determine when, where, and how to use what God has given to him or her. The third is a mandated communal purpose: that is, every gift of God comes with a mandate to understand the value and purpose of the gift regarding the needs of others and needs of the community; and use the understanding to determine when, where, and how to use “what the Lord has given you.”

A gift of God could come to a person as an increase in his or her physical or mental resources. The purpose of the study series is to understand that God calls every person to recognize and honor the communal purpose of what God has given to him or her. We will provide the study in ten sessions: one session every month in February through November of 2025.

In this session of the series, we discuss Christ teaching on the individual responsibility regarding a neighbor’s call for assistance, through the Parable of Good Samaritan. Are you my neighbor? This question announces God’s call for a person to recognize circumstances of another person needing assistance from others. God calls every person to recognize a neighbor’s call for assistance and respond positively. Christ provides a deliberate teaching to prepare every person to recognize a neighbor’s call for assistance and respond effectively using “what the Lord has given us.” We describe the Parable of Good Samaritan in detail to understand the teaching.

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Following God's Schedule

Compassion—Sensitivity to Needs

Recognize – Care – Commit – Persevere

Compassion is important to following God’s schedule: based on David’s early interactions with Saul and on Christ teaching in two parables—God uses call to compassion to direct a person to blessing he has ordained. He calls the person regarding a need and expects them to recognize the need, care about the needy, commit to providing, and persevere in seeking to alleviate the need. Earn blessing by completing the call or incur punishment by declining. Illustrations from David show he completed three calls to compassion early during his period as king in waiting and each completion led him to accomplish a goal and key step toward becoming king of Israel.

Teaching love through compassion [Luke 10:25–37]
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The bible study series on Following God’s Schedule examines David’s interactions during the period between his anointing to be king and his confirmation by the people of Israel. The study focuses on understanding his following God’s schedule toward kingship notwithstanding the schedule was not revealed to him a priori. His path to kingship after the anointing included a transition from King Saul, kingship training for David, and preparing the people of Israel to accept David as king. God had a plan and schedule for each of these, required David to follow the schedule, but did not reveal the plan or schedule to him.

The study is applicable to everyday life because David’s situation is quite similar to common human experience. As we discuss in Prayer of Joseph from the Dungeon, God at times grants a prayer with a promise to be fulfilled to fit his overall plan for the recipient, sets a schedule for fulfilling the promise, requires the recipient to follow the schedule, but may not reveal the schedule or plan. The recipient needs to follow the schedule to receive fulfillment of the promise just like David needed to follow God’s schedule to become king.

Victory parade from killing Goliath
Victory parade from killing Goliath
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God provided his schedule to David piecemeal, as a series of preparatory and precursory events: preparatory events are those that prepared him for future occurrences, whereas a precursory event is one that is necessary to trigger a future occurrence. David’s choices regarding the events determined whether he followed or departed from God’s schedule. The study series focuses on understanding his choices in various events in the context of Christ teaching. We discuss David’s choices as they illustrate God’s purpose for human interactions and relationships, which Christ emphasizes in his teachings presented live several generations after David.

This session of the series focuses on compassion, based on David’s early interactions with Saul and others and on Christ teaching through two parables: the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Through the teachings, Christ explains that God uses a call to compassion to direct a recipient to a blessing, such as an achievement step toward fulfillment of a promise. The recipient earns the blessing by completing the call to compassion or incurs punishment by declining. Illustrations from David show he completed three calls to compassion early in his interactions with Saul and each completion led him to accomplish a goal and key step toward becoming king of Israel.

Continue reading “Compassion—Sensitivity to Needs” →