Thou Shalt Not Ignore

You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again. (Deuteronomy 22:1-4 ESV)

Throughout the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New, God sets standards for His people that exceed what we ourselves or our societies normally hold us to. In this passage from Deuteronomy, God states that it is not enough to simply refrain from claiming or stealing a lost animal or property; rather, it is our responsibility to actively seek to restore them to their rightful owner.

Okay, cool, but most of us probably don't own oxen, sheep, or donkeys, so how is this relevant, and why are we talking about this today? If you replace brother with Father, and ox/sheep/donkey with child, this passage reads:

You shall not see your Father's child going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your Father... you may not ignore them. You shall not see your Father's child fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.

Interestingly, Jesus tells a parable on this subject in Luke 10:25-37. In the story, a man had been attacked by robbers and left beaten up by the roadside. A priest, then a Levite (both religious leaders) passed by him without a single pause before a Samaritan (considered unholy by most Jews at the time) stopped to take care of him. This story was actually told in response to a question on how to fulfill the commandment, "You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself."

I think it's pretty clear how being "good Samaritans" is showing love to those people in need, but we often miss that it's part of loving God too. The Bible tells us just how much God loves every single one of His children, so much that He sacrificed His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). He desperately desires that every one of His lost sheep be found, every prodigal son brought home (Luke 15). To love someone is to care about the things they care about, so to love God is to care about every lost individual and do what we can to bring them back into the fold.

So why do we ignore? Well, we might be running late for a pretty important event or appointment, it might feel unsafe to do otherwise, we may not have anything on hand to give to the person in need, we may feel like we've given enough to that person in the past, we may feel unqualified to speak up, it might attract an unwanted audience, or maybe we're just simply not in the mood to interact with anybody at the moment. Some reasons may seem more excusable than others, but ultimately, they are all inexcusable. The command is simple: "Thou shalt not ignore."

So, address these reasons as much as possible beforehand so that they do not become excuses: have some cash on hand to give to those who beg, spend time in the Word to understand and be able to share the gospel, pay attention to the needs in your community and be intentional about contributing to efforts to meet them, pray everyday for opportunities to show love and keep your eyes out for them! Even when you are not equipped to intervene directly when you see a need, take a moment to pray for the person.

To conclude, here are two verses:

"One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people." (Exodus 2:11)

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)

Sometimes, we simply need to look. Look around you, in your workplace, on the streets, among your friends, at the statistics, at the world. Look at all the people who are lost, who are hurting, who don't have provision for basic needs. Ask the Holy Spirit to stir up compassion in you, and commit to doing your part to love God and love your neighbors.

May the love of Christ fill you up completely and overflow to every area of your life and to every interaction. Grace and peace be with you!