Reverend Eric Dzansi, Minister in charge of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana at Kodzi near Aflao Sunday, stated that being a Christian was not only about knowing Scripture or attending church.
He said it was about how Christians treated the hurting, the forgotten, the stranger lying in the ditch or their perceived enemies.
Rev. Dzansi said this in a sermon on the theme “the good Samaritan” at the Kodzi Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta region.
The texts for the sermon were taken from Deuteronomy 30: 9 – 14, Colossians 1: 1-14 and Luke 10: 25 – 37.
Rev. Dzansi therefore called on Christians to show compassion by helping others, especially strangers and those in need.
He noted that the Good Samaritan exemplified the universal commandment to love each other.
The Minister of the Gospel intimated that such a love should transcend social, ethnic, and religious boundaries.
“Love the person who hurts you, the stranger who doesn’t look or speak like you or whose background challenges your comfort,” he stressed.
He continued that true righteousness was not found in religious identity or ritual but in active, sacrificial compassion for others.
Rev. Dzansi said instead of having love in their hearts like the Good Samaritan, most Christians have the law on their lips like the Levites.
He entreated them to work hard to bring people from pain to healing and from loneliness to love.
Rev. Dzansi reminded them that their neighbours were not just the ones next door, family, or church members but all those who needed their help.
“We need not cross the world to find someone in a ditch,” he asserted.
He urged them to stop asking who deserved their love but how they could be a neighbour to someone in need, adding “give your time, money and efforts to your neighbours because love requires sacrifices.”
“Love doesn’t wait for conveniences, compassion crosses the road, and mercy doesn’t ask where you are from,” the Minister noted.
Rev. Dzansi stated that Jesus Christ taught Christians that eternal life was not found in knowing the right answers but in living the right love.
He said theologically, the Good Samaritan exemplified the universal commandment to love one’s neighbour, a love that transcended social, ethnic, and religious boundaries.
Rev. Dzansi advised Christians not to see an enemy in their neighbours but as human beings in need.
GNA
