If you’ve been following along this week, you know the theme has been Kindness.
1️⃣ Lead with love.
2️⃣ Expect nothing. Do good anyway.
3️⃣ Practice kindness. Every day.
4️⃣ Practicing kindness isn’t weakness—it’s strength under control.
But that brings us to the real question: to whom should I be kind?
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37, paraphrased)
Jesus tells the story of a man traveling down a dangerous road who was attacked by robbers, beaten, and left for dead.
A priest came by, saw him, and crossed to the other side.
Then a Levite—another respected religious man—did the same.
Finally, a Samaritan came along. Though he was from a group despised by the Jews, he stopped, cared for the man’s wounds, and took him to safety, even paying for his continued care.
I’m not here to be a theologian or a preacher. I’m not going to perform exegesis.
Just remember this: the religious people left the traveler to die.
They followed their rules. They did their religious—and some might even say—patriotic duty (see Numbers 19:11-13).
It was the foreigner, the one who didn’t belong there—the “filthy Samaritan dog”—who stopped.
He cared for the wounded man.
He paid for his care.
He expected nothing in return.
So, who should I be kind to?
• Those who don’t deserve it.
• Those who are “less than” me.
• The vulnerable. The overlooked. The ones who need it most.
It’s ironic that the Samaritan was the good neighbor.
He broke the rules the religious folks were so eager to preserve.
He worshiped the wrong way.
He didn’t follow the law.
But when faced with a choice between rules and kindness,
he chose kindness.
How often do we hear today that we must preserve the rules or the law—even when it means being unkind?
What’s the point of law if it doesn’t protect the most vulnerable among us?
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
It’s easy to talk about being kind. Easy to think of ourselves as good, kind people.
But are we willing to go against our own self-interests?
Are we willing to stand apart from our friends, our community, or our political party when they tell us not to care about “those people”?
Do we look at those who disagree with us and label them as deranged?
Do we support leaders who do the same?
Let’s rise above it—and lead from the back if need be.
#LiveGolden
Ramblings from That Guy 