asbc seek devotionals 2025 2 - Flipbook - Page 8
DEVOTIONAL JOURNAL | ALFRED STREET BAPTIST CHURCH
Day 2: Don’t Be a
Bystander
MIN. DEJA WILSON
“Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?”
– Mark 5:9a NIV
When I was seven, I got stuck on the monkey bars during recess. My friends stood
nearby, frozen in silence. Their inaction wasn’t out of malice but out of confusion, fear, or
perhaps a belief that someone else would intervene. Yet in that moment of distress, their
silence and inaction spoke volumes.
In Mark 5, we meet a man whose suffering had been ignored for far longer. Cast aside by
society, he lived among the tombs, bound by chains that could not hold him, crying out
in anguish and engaging in self-harm. For months, maybe even years, people walked by,
unwilling or unsure of how to help, leaving him isolated in his suffering.
But then Jesus stepped in. He didn’t just observe the man’s suffering from a distance;
He took action. Jesus intervened, asked his name, and met his immediate needs. Jesus’
actions teach us that love is more than a feeling or sentiment; love is a call to respond,
advocate, and engage. True love looks beyond fear or convenience and steps into the
messy and complicated realities of others’ lives.
The text invites us to reflect on our own lives. How often do we witness the pain
of others and remain silent? How often do we see suffering and find ourselves too
preoccupied to act? The love of Christ calls us to reject complacency. Like Jesus, we are
invited to step into the brokenness around us and respond with boldness and compassion
when others simply stand by.
JOURNAL
REFLECTIONS
8
Who in your life might be crying out,
waiting for someone to step in and
intervene? Will you remain a bystander, or
will you act in love?
PRAYER
God, forgive me for the times I have been a bystander
to the suffering of others. Give me the courage to take
action, the wisdom to know how to respond, and the
heart to love like Christ. Amen.
