I recently attended a Men’s Retreat at my church and was fortunate to hear the teaching of Dr. John Hull, President of an organization called InJoy. John spoke on a number of topics but one that struck me was a session that he did on the well-known story of the “Good Samaritan” (found in Luke 10:25-37). As I sat and listened and took notes from his talk, “Strength and Power of Compassion”, I was hearing how this story, which I have heard so many times and is a common term in our everyday language when someone helps someone else, is so very applicable to our work lives. I am going to break down into three parts what Dr. Hull spoke about and relate it to how it is that we can conduct ourselves at work and make our work environment better for others, more purposed, and better for ourselves. This is part 1: Facing Reality.

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan and how he helped the beaten, robbed and near death Jewish business man as the man had been been traveling on a dangerous road. Two other people, a Priest and Levite, had seen the naked man lying on the side of the road and had passed him by and had not helped him. The Samaritan, who as a people were not friendly to the Jewish people, which makes the story that much more powerful, not only stops to help the man but instead but goes above and beyond to then take him with him and ensure that he gets what he needs to recover and get back on his feet. Like any of us, the Samaritan had to have stopped and weighed the consequences and ramifications of his decision to help the hurt man, before he stopped and stooped over to help him up to his feet. What was going through his mind had to be things like, “what is this going to look like to my friends, family and co-workers if I help this guy?”, “how much time and/or money is this going to cost me?”, “what if this guy deserved the beating and I am taking in someone who is going to rob me next?”, and if it was modern day, I am sure he would have said to himself, “what is my liability if I help him, will I get sued?”. These are all normal and reasonable questions to ask as he was facing a reality in front of him and deciding to run away like the other two men or be different and not run away from the problem in front of him.

Why I thought this is such a great lesson for us as we try and inject purpose into our work, is that each and every day we are faced with a reality where we can help others who are not doing so well and who have been figuratively beaten down and left to the side of the road. How many times have we been in meetings where someone was unfairly treated, talked about, or accused and without the time to defend themselves the conversation moves on and they are left to the side of the table with their egos bruised, their feelings hurt and in some cases left worrying about their future within the company. And what do we do more often than not? We let the conversation move on without defending them or we let the meeting break up and we head back to our offices or cubicles without the encouraging or helping word or hand extended to them. What the story of the Good Samaritan says is that we are to face the reality that something bad has happened and we are not to run away but instead reach forward and down to them to show compassion. What I love about compassionate people is that they don’t run from reality just because reality hurts or will cost them something. They give of themselves to express their compassion. And, I will call upon the phrase, “what goes around comes around”. If we are ones who face reality and show compassion to others in the workplace and try to model ourselves after the Good Samaritan (even to those in the departments that we just don’t like to deal with), then on the day that we stumble and find ourselves down and out, then just maybe someone will remember that we were there for them, and they they will reach down and give us a hand to get back on our feet. The question to be asked today is, to bring more purpose to your work are you working to the example of the Good Samaritan and showing the same compassion to others that the Good Samaritan modeled for us?

Reference: Luke 10:25-37 (New Living Testament)