We like to think of ourselves as kind. Compassionate. Generous.
But too often, our compassion is conditional.

It’s easy to show up for people who look like us, think like us, vote like us, worship like us. It’s comfortable to care when the story feels familiar—when we see ourselves reflected in their struggle. But the Gospel doesn’t call us to comfort. It calls us to Christ.

And Christ? He didn’t just sit with the familiar.
He touched the untouchables.
He defended the outcasts.
He healed the ones society avoided.
He saw the invisible.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
— Matthew 25:40

This is not a poetic suggestion. It is a commissioning.
We are responsible—for the stranger, the hurting, the overlooked. For the single mom barely making ends meet. For the refugee who fled violence with nothing but hope in their hands. For the teen who dresses differently, worships differently, who doesn’t quite know where they belong.

We don’t get to opt out.

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
— 1 John 3:17

Let’s be clear: this is not about guilt.
This is about grace in action.
We love because He first loved us.

And He did not wait until we had it together. He met us in our mess.
That is our model.

So let’s resist the urge to retreat into circles of sameness.
Let’s remember that the Samaritan—the one outsiders scorned—was the only one who stopped to help.
He crossed lines. Broke norms. Loved with his hands and his time and his wallet.

“Go and do likewise,” Jesus said.
— Luke 10:37

Not just for your friends.
Not just when it’s convenient.
But for the hurting. For the forgotten. For the ones no one else sees.

Because every person you pass is someone God handcrafted, someone Jesus died to save, someone the Holy Spirit longs to dwell within.

And if you can be the hands and feet of Christ for even one person today, do it.
Not because they deserve it.
But because He does.