He saw him

“And He saw him” is a subtle but key line in the Good Samaritan parable.  To survive we tend to compartmentalize all the suffering and bad news around us.  While that is a natural survival instinct, we still must stay soft to those that God calls us to be neighbors too.  With the risk of dating myself, there is a line in a Keith Green song that states “my eyes are dry and heart is cold”.  May we never reach that point.  May we seek to see all like God sees them. May we realize that God sees each of us in the same light.

From my observation with local and global situations, three things seem to apply universally from the parable of the Good Samaritan.

1. We must humanize our neighbor. We all have a story and none is lesser in value.
2. We are compelled to empathize and care specifically, Whom among us hasn’t felt invisible or reduced to a number or category?
3. We have many resources to take advantage of  We don’t have to do it all ourselves, just as the Samaritan utilized the caregivers.

This is not about guilt and feeling like it is never enough but rather blessing from our blessing.   

What about the following quote “dream small and do big things…we are not promised tomorrow but today we can do something big”.  Perhaps we dream big what-if thoughts that postpone what we are called to do right now for the neighbor God points us to.

, Pete Carlson