“Good Sam,” is a shortening of the name or term, ‘Good Samaritan,’ from the story Jesus told of a passer-by, who instantly gave medical attention to an injured and wounded person, right there close beside them, and thus saving their life.  As Jesus told the ‘Story,’ it appears to be a ‘News Flash,’ but we find so many layers and levels in this story, Jesus is in reality ‘The Good Samaritan,’ the one seeking and saving the lost, those dying in sin, Jesus is also ‘The Traveler,’ the one going up to Jerusalem and to the cross, Isaiah 53:5 “But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  Jesus as also ‘The Good Samaritan,’ who is imminently due back, as ‘Ruler of Heaven and Earth,’ who will repay the faithful workers for their faithful expenditure on every one of God’s Wounded Kids, and who will also punish and condemn all unfaithful and un-holy.

In some locations, whenever anybody phones in on the “Emergency Number,” the operator asks, “Police, Fire or Ambulance,” if the choice is ‘Ambulance, then the call is instantly routed to the call center for Ambulances.  As soon as the Ambulance is ‘Booked,’ a second call goes out to “Good Sam,” members, and the person nearest the location gets an alarm on their phone, along with the location of the emergency.  “Good Sam,” is made up of volunteers who are medical people, First Aiders, Doctors, Nurses, Paramedics, who have all registered on this system, and as a good neighbour, in their private time, are willing to spring into action, and in some cases are the very first on the ground, to stabilize things until the fully equipped Ambulance and crew arrives to take over, to then transport the patient to Hospital. 

On a “Spiritual Side,” we often wonder what it is really like in the ‘Control Room in Heaven,’ A call comes in, an urgent request, God leans over his throne, earnestly scanning the control panel and asks, who is the closest “Good Sam” who can offer help and assistance?  An Angel quickly scans the Data Base, and then looks up into God’s face and embarrassingly replies, it is actually the very person who is crying out for somebody else to help in this situation.  Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  We should be the ‘Good Sam,’ and be doing the doing, but so many of us ease back, and try to ‘delegate,’ palm it off to others, let God sort this out, and then we claim to be ‘Gods Kids,’ his ‘Good Sam,’ but so often we are asleep in the light of the Gospel, using up precious resources when we should be actively dispensing heavens blessings to the sin sick suffers close beside us.   

Ephesians 2:5-6 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:”  Jesus has called us, he empowers us, he quickens us, he fills us with the Holy Spirit, wraps us with Angels that excel in power and might, so why can we become so weak and useless, when Heaven’s Power is all about us, that we then also need a “Good Sam,” to minister unto us, when we should be ministering care and compassion to the weak and sin wounded scattered ones close by, and all around us.  Mark 2:17 “When Jesus heard [it], he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”     

Quote; “Contact with the ignorant and careless multitude, they [the Jews] taught, would cause defilement that would require wearisome effort to remove. Were they to regard the “unclean” as neighbors?  This question Christ answered in the parable of the good Samaritan. He showed that our neighbor does not mean merely one of the church or faith to which we belong. It has no reference to race, color, or class distinction. Our neighbor is every person who needs our help. Our neighbor is every soul who is wounded and bruised by the adversary. Our neighbor is everyone who is the property of God. {COL 376} Will you step up, prove by your compassionate behaviour that you are a “Good Sam,” one who actively serves God?  Matthew 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.”  This is “Serving God,” but it is also “Ministering unto God” as well, by caring for his Kids.      

Or do we display just a ‘Form of Godliness;’ 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  Quote; “Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for His children. Godliness–godlikeness–is the goal to be reached. Before the student there is opened a path of continual progress. He has an object to achieve, a standard to attain, that includes everything good, and pure, and noble. He will advance as fast and as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge. But his efforts will be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal interests as the heavens are higher than the earth. {Ed 18} We must always strive to be the best, and most current ‘Good Sam’ around, reflecting Jesus in our thoughts, words and actions.     

It can be so easy to be a ‘Soldier of the Cross’ – “Inactive,” or to assume that we are now an ‘Administrator’ – no longer in ‘Active Service.’  1 Corinthians 9:26-27 “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  As a “Believer,” as a “Christian,” as a “Good Sam,” we are never ‘Off-Duty,’ we can never stop growing in Grace, we can never stop serving, cause we work for God, we are his local “Good Sam.”  There are enough hints in Scripture to get the idea that throughout Eternity, we are 24/7 “Good Sams,” ministering, working for God, serving him, looking out for each other, and always the first Taxi on the rank, the first on the scene to be cheering, blessing and serving, so let’s get into an active training program, starting right now, and we will always find places to serve as God’s “Good Sam.”