Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. John 4:9
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE GALATIANS 3:28 “28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
COMMENTS: Prejudgment is judging a person or situation before adequate evidence is received. For people, judging an individual based on past experience with others of same race or gender or appearance or same last name or same religion or worldview or … The list is nearly infinite.
Is certain types of prejustice justified or even good or is all prejudice harmful? Well, prejustice is something everyone does to some degree and in one way or another. Some outspoken atheists, humanists, and progressives show prejustice against Christians. Truth is some Christians have not conducted themselves in a Christ-like manner but that doesn’t mean the Christian worldview is false nor that all Christians are prejusticed against non-Christians. Likewise, not all non-Christians are prejusticed against Christians. I dare say most are not in spite what may be implied on some news sites or by some organizations.
But Christ warns that to be His follower will stir hostility and false accusations against us. He assures us that hostility is motivated by satan’s hostility against Him.
Therefore, what we should do is what sincere – faithful Christians have demonstrated since Pentecost. To discover and follow Christ’s example and learn from previous Christ followers and from Christ followers in our lives and in other places and countries. Those faithful to Christ will be positive examples who will be a powerful witness to others drawing them too to the eternal life available from Christ. However, the hostility and prejustice inflicted on them has always been a burden they had to carry as a “right of passage” or way to authenticate their witness to the Gospel they are sharing.
However, from God’s perspective, asking them (and us) to endure a time of suffering or pain is not pleasant but well worth the sacrifice because the fruit of that sacrifice is the salvation of others. Stop and ask yourself – what price would I be willing to pay so my spouse or son/daughter or cousin or neighbor or friend would be with me in heaven? If we put it that way, I think we all would say such a result would be worth anything including our own lives.
So why should we be surprised or angry if we endure some persecution or difficulty or have to make some sacrifice along life’s way and journey. In fact, if we are not making any sacrifice, should we be wondering and asking if we are indeed being a faithful follower of Christ and are we truly acting and living a Christ-centered and Christ-like life?
Prejustice was a problem in Jesus’ day and in every generation before and after. In Jesus’ day, Jews and Samaritans were prejusticed against each other and likely for good reason based on conduct of some. The Samaritans were dependents of Jews who intermarried Assyrians in 8th century BC. Jews would go out of their way to avoid going through Samaria when traveling from Judea to Galilee. But when Jesus took such a journey, He purposefully went through Samaria, where He encounter the woman at the well, which resulted in her salvation along with many she then brought from her town to encounter and be transformed by the Messiah – Jesus Christ.
If we are going to be Christ-like, we will need to learn to seek and embrace opportunities on our journey and path instead of avoiding them. That means more interruption in our schedule but consider how often Christ was interrupted. In His case, the interruptions were part of His plan and so will ours if we seriously implement the decision to follow Him.
“Water and oil are more compatible than Christianity and prejudice.” William A. Ward
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 582 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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