Wide Open: Opening Our Lives to What God Wants to Do Through UsSample

Jesus told a story about a Jewish man who was beaten and left on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite—Jewish leaders who were supposed to live out God’s law and care for others—passed by him without stopping.

Then, a Samaritan man saw him on the side of the road, and something remarkable unfolded.

For context, tensions were high between Jewish and Samaritan people. The Jewish people often treated Samaritans as outsiders and enemies.This beaten man could have passed a Samaritan in the street and thought the worst of them.

But even though Samaritans were looked down on, pushed to the edges of society, and often treated as outsiders or enemies, this man chose compassion anyway. He could have ignored the beaten man, avoided trouble, or assumed his help wasn’t wanted. Instead, he went out of his way to care for someone who would normally see him as an enemy.

God calls us to see people through his eyes, not through the lens of our comfort zone. True compassion doesn’t keep score—it simply chooses to act in love. Living wide open starts with setting aside our personal preferences, assumptions, and prejudices to offer love and care to everyone.

When we make this choice in everyday life, we reflect the heart of Jesus, showing that his love doesn’t depend on who someone is or where they come from.

Pray: God, help me notice people I might usually overlook or avoid. Give me the courage to step past my comfort, my assumptions, and my biases, and show compassion to everyone I meet. Teach me to act with love, even when it feels unexpected or uncomfortable.