1 ¶ And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Here is Jesus repudiating the idea that He shouldn’t even heal a suffering person on the Sabbath. Some Christians would have you abandon a sick relative, a suffering loved one, or anyone who needed to be ministered to for Christ if there was a Sunday morning church service to attend. While there is much room for people using almost anything as an excuse to miss church on Sunday, this is not necessarily the case. If you have a chance to witness, or to minister to someone then take it. But, remember, you will answer for lies and excuses that serve you when you stand before Jesus Christ.
I remember a Christian related to me once that he saw a man prostrate next to a mailbox on the side of the road while on his way to church one morning and although he did stop to help the man (the man was drunk) he admitted that the concern crossed his mind that he would be late for church. Many of us have gone through that type of thing. You never know when Christ is going to throw something or someone in your path for you to manifest His love and care so don’t be so phariseeically rigid and inflexible.
If you notice the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, two religious officials, a priest and a levite, passed by the wounded man “on the other side” before the Samaritan ministered to him. Perhaps they were in a hurry to get somewhere to “do something for God.” Whatever the excuse, they missed an opportunity to actually do something for God. How many opportunities to serve God have you missed while you were busy thinking you were serving God?
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