We hope you enjoy this re-post from April 1, 2013. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him… – Luke 10:33, KJV

There are people all around us who are desperately hurting spiritually. They try to break free from their emotional pain, and occasionally they enjoy a respite. But, on the whole, they trudge through their spiritual mire day in and day out, striving for a lasting joy that they will never obtain aside from Jesus Christ.

The Gospel has the unmatched power to transform such lives, replacing deep sorrow with heart peace. As Josh McDowell reports in his book The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict:

In the nineteenth century Charles Bradlaugh, a prominent atheist, challenged a Christian man to debate the validity of the claims of Christianity. The Christian, Hugh Price Hughes, was an active soul-winner who worked among the poor in the slums of London. Hughes told Bradlaugh he would agree to the debate on one condition.

Hughes said, “I propose to you that we each bring some concrete evidences of the validity of our beliefs in the form of men and women who have been redeemed from the lives of sin and shame by the influence of our teaching. I will bring 100 such men and women, and I challenge you to do the same.”

Hughes then said that if Bradlaugh couldn’t bring 100, then he could bring 50; if he couldn’t bring 50, then he could bring 20. He finally whittled the number down to one. All Bradlaugh had to do was to find one person whose life was improved by atheism and Hughes – who would bring 100 people improved by Christ – would agree to debate him. Bradlaugh withdrew!

(Source: McDowell, Josh. The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999. Page 156)

(Original Source: Kennedy, D. James and Jerry Newcombe. What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994. Page 189.)

No other faith or philosophy can transform a life like Christianity, but so many desperate lives never experience the redemptive power of the Gospel because so many of the keepers of the Gospel – Christians – refuse to administer to others the same medicine that they received themselves. Hiding behind excuses of inconvenience, fear of offending, and “not knowing what to say,” many Christians pass by the wounded man or woman with the same hard-heartedness as the priest and the Levite of Luke 10.

If there is someone around you in emotional pain, they need the medicine of Christ. Some may need the Gospel so that they might join Christ’s family. Others may already be His, but they may need some truth from His Word to lift them up. Whatever the affliction, Christ is the balm they need, and you don’t need a seminary degree to apply Him to their wounds. Simply tell the lost how you met Him at Calvary. Or, tell the brother or sister how He comforted you in your time of need. Simply tell your stories of how Christ has impacted your life, and He will flow through you to transform the struggling lives around you.