But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Luke 10:29, NASB

After establishing the fact that our two greatest duties involve loving God with all of our being and loving our neighbor as ourself, an expert in the Law of Moses decided to pin Jesus down as to exactly who his neighbor was. This scribe was doing a very human thing in the fact that he wanted to see just how much this would cost him, and he was likely trying to limit that cost in terms of time and effort. 

He was doubtlessly disappointed at Jesus' response, for the reply that Jesus gave to this scribe (and therefore to us today by His example) did not limit his responsibility at all. In fact, it seemed to vastly broaden our duty to our fellow man. In his parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus pointed out that our neighbor was not limited to those whom we have close relationships with, but also those who we have the opportunity to help - even if we don't particularly know or even like them!

I don't believe that Jesus was in any way indicating that we needed to enable others to sin by giving everybody everything they ask of us. I think that Jesus was simply pointing out that we see opportunities to help others all the time, and that we should do what we can to help when we can. 

But all too often, I am like the scribes and the pharisees in that I want to give ridiculous "what ifs" to limit my duty. "What if a bad looking man is hitchhiking? Are you saying that my wife or daughter needs to give them a ride?" Or, "What if it is an addict? Are you saying I have to give him money so he can go waste it on drugs?" We have thousands of "what ifs" and they usually are motivated by a desire to find loopholes in God's commandments, so we must understand this: God has never commanded us to recklessly endanger the innocent by making them interact with the wicked. Nor has God ever commanded us to help someone ruin their soul by bankrolling their sinful behavior.

But what God does want us to do is to truly help others when we have the ability to do so. We will see plenty of people who are in genuine need in our lives and we need to help them when we can. God is not asking us to bankrupt ourselves and make our families go hungry while we help everyone else, so we need to stop acting as if this is what He or Jesus are commanding. They are just saying that we need to do our part to assist people when it is in our power to do so. And there are so many occasions each day that we will allow us to safely and reasonably help one another with the loads that are too much for a person to bear on their own.

And there is something else that is critical to this idea of helping our neighbor: It is motivated by love! So, if we truly do love God with all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength, and if we truly do love our neighbors as ourself, then we won't be worried about trying to limit these times of assistance because we are acting out of love, not convenience.

And when our service to God shifts from a mindset of "What's it going to cost me?" to an attitude of the heart that prompts us to ask, "What can I do to help this person who genuinely needs it?" then we can start to become the types of men and women that God desires us to be. And just remember, it all begins with love. Do you love your neighbor as God wants you to? Then do what you can to help them, when you are able to do so. And you will be doing that because you really do love your neighbor as yourself. And by doing so, the world is going to become a much better place, don't you think?