Being Kind to Each Other
"Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but
always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else." -
1 Thessalonians 5:15
John Darley and Daniel Batson are two Princeton University
psychologists. Some years ago they decided to conduct a
study, inspired by the story of the Good Samaritan. They
conducted the study at Princeton Theological Seminary.
They met with a group of seminarians and asked each one to
prepare a short talk on a given theme. Then they would walk
individually to a nearby building to present it. Along the
way to the presentation each student would run into a man
who was planted in an alley. He would be lying there,
moaning & groaning in pain. The question was who would stop
to help the man.
Darley and Batson asked half of the seminarians to give
their talk on ministry opportunities available for students
after graduation. The other half was asked to prepare a
short devotional on the story of the Good Samaritan.
Also, the researchers wanted to find out if being in a hurry
made any difference to the students. So they told one third
of the group that they had plenty of time to get to the
building to give their talk so they could take their time.
Another third was told that they would just make it in time
if they left right now. And the last third was told that
they were already late-they'd better get moving immediately!
In other words, the experimenters put a third of their
subjects in a "low hurry" situation; a third in a
"intermediate hurry" situation; and a third in a "high
hurry" situation. So, which ones offered to help the man in
pain? It turned out that it made no significant difference
whether the student was giving a talk on job opportunities
or the Good Samaritan.
What did make a difference was how much of a hurry he was
in. Of the "low hurry" subjects, 63% offered help; of the
"intermediate hurry" subjects, 45% offered help; and of the
"high hurry" students, only 10% offered help.
The experimenters concluded that the study would seem to
indicate that bystander apathy is encouraged not only by the
crowding in today's world but also by the rush of big-city
life as contrasted with the more leisurely pace of smaller
towns.
In our "hurry-up world" it is easy to excuse why we don't
help others. So let's slow down. Today in prayer, ask the
Lord to slow down and see the people who truly need His
kindness this day.
"The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but
its donation." - Corrie Ten Boom
God's Word: "Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." -
Ephesians 4:32
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2004, Devotional E-Mail
DEVOTIONS IN THESSALONIANS
pkennedy@devotional.com