Living LifeWise: The Good Samaritanਨਮੂਨਾ

If you’ve ever watched a professional athlete practice, you might notice techniques that seem strange until you understand the sport. A runner might jump around lifting their knees to their chest or do a sideways cross-step while warming up for a race, or a golfer might rehearse tiny half-swings over and over while chasing perfection in his form. From the outside, it doesn’t make sense until you see the bigger picture.

The Christian life often looks the same way. To the world, loving people who hurt us, giving without expecting anything back, or forgiving when it feels impossible, seems backward. But when we remember the love and mercy we’ve received in Christ, this “upside-down” way of living becomes the only response that makes sense.

At the end of the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus gave a simple command: “Go and do the same.” There’s no checklist, no qualifications, no loopholes. If we have experienced the love and mercy of Christ, we are called to share that same love and mercy with others.

This doesn’t always mean grand gestures. Often, it’s the small, everyday acts of kindness that reflect Christ most clearly: listening when someone needs to talk, checking in on a neighbor, sending an encouraging message, or quietly meeting a need no one else sees.

But this command is also radical. It calls us to love people who may never thank us, to serve when it’s inconvenient, and to forgive when it’s hard. It calls us to love the unlovable, not in our own strength but in the strength of Christ living in us.

When we choose to love with action, we become living witnesses to the gospel. The world takes notice when followers of Jesus love sacrificially, without expecting anything in return. This is what it looks like to live in a way that reflects God’s heart for the world

Reflect: Focus on how you can live out this command to “Go and do the same” in practical ways this week.

• What does “Go and do the same” look like in your daily life?
• How can you point people to Jesus through acts of love?
• What’s one intentional step you can take to love your neighbor today?

Pray: Ask God to empower you to love others as He has loved you: faithfully, sacrificially and with joy.