Your Neighbor is God Appointed
What Must I Do? – Part 1

Scripture Reading: Luke 10:25-28  

Key Verse: Luke 10:25

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

September will be all about the question, “Who is my neighbor?”  The story really starts with another question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Unfortunately, the question was asked to trick Jesus rather than to truly understand how to inherit eternal life.  The person asking this question was a scribe—an expert in the Law of Moses.  Their attitude toward Jesus was that He was a self-promoting teacher that didn’t have the proper training to teach the Law.  The problem these scribes kept running into was that Jesus always gave the perfect answer, backed up by scriptures.

Jesus answered the scribe’s question with a question: “What is written in the Law?”  The scribe was quick to show Jesus his knowledge by quoting the scriptures in Deuteronomy, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus affirmed his answer as correct and challenged him to go live it out.  If this scribe would live it out, he would inherit eternal life, according to Jesus.

The key word in the scribe’s question was “do”!  Jesus was basically saying that these scribes had to stop simply talking about the law and go do it—live it!  God is not impressed with how many scriptures we can quote.  God is watching for how many scriptures we live out in life!

Father, help me not to debate your Word, but rather be a doer of your Word.  May my life be a walking Bible.  In Jesus’ name, amen.