When much younger, I chose a road in life that was a dangerous route. I recognized the way was unsafe just as the man in the parable knew the path he was traveling was dangerous. With disregard, I chose that route anyway, and sure enough, the destroyer met me.

A thief attacked me. “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life.” (John 10:10) When I met the devil, he stripped me of my joy. He stole my purpose. He killed my spiritual growth and left me crushed. Everything I had, he took. He battered me and left me bleeding beside the road with no one to help me. No one knew. No pastor or priest arrived to nurse my wounds. No one came to save or tend to me. No one in my congregation of believers even knew or recognized my distress. I was dying, and the only thing I could do was cry out for God.

As I laid there, a man who people have despised and rejected approached. Jesus disclosed to me that the Good Samaritan is Christ Himself. Chapter 53 of Isaiah gives this description of our Savior. “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him. Nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not.

Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds. I am healed.”

Jesus saw me bruised and bleeding. He did not pass me by on the other side but came to me in my dying condition, knelt beside me, took oil (the Holy Spirit) and poured His Spirit into my gaping wounds. Also taking some wine, He not only poured both liquids on my wounds, but “flooded” them into me. His blood mixed with mine. Jesus poured himself out in me, and I became a temple for Him to abide in.

He did not stop there. Picking me up, setting me on His shoulders, He took me to the inn. At the time of this parable, a donkey was used to carry burdens too heavy for a man’s back, which is a metaphor for Jesus as our burden bearer.

Listen carefully. As Jesus unfolded this marvelous story, He explained the inn as the Father’s house where He lifted me before the throne of Grace. He did not stand me before the throne of judgment but extended grace to me instead of punishment.

The innkeeper is my Father in heaven who accepted me and brought life back into my dead bones. Not only that, but the Samaritan, Jesus Christ, paid the price for the healing of my broken body, mind, and soul-making me whole.

Do you want to know why I love Jesus? Do you have questions about why I love Jesus? Everything in this parable discloses the truth, goodness, greatness, and love of Jesus.

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you injured with bleeding wounds and scars, and it feels like you’re bleeding to death? Are you on your way out and have no more strength, no more courage? Maybe no one around sees your pain; no one understands you’re hurting.

If Jesus saw me, He sees and wants to help you.

Praise God He didn’t leave me dying in a ditch. He came to me, dressed my injuries, and introduced me to what it means to love Him. He was the one who sought me out, loved me, and poured Himself out for me. He shed his blood for me and made forgiveness possible. He gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit and provided me with everything I need because He is the “Great I Am.”

You may be resistant to God as the enemy’s grip holds you. That resistance could keep you from receiving Jesus. Don’t allow that to take place. Accept His healing. If you do not resist Him, He will not let you go. I know, because He didn’t let me go.

I love Jesus. I will always love Jesus. When He saw my condition, He didn’t leave me there. He changed that reality to where I now stand free, filled with the living power of the Holy Spirit and with Jesus Christ living within me. I owe him everything. Remember dear reader, this is your story, too.