Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9-10
“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In
all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To
all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
John Wesley
Doing good is the second General
Rule of the United Methodist Church.
Another Wesleyan denomination, the Salvation Army, adopted “doing the
most good” as their motto. Most
followers of Jesus would include doing good among the things Christians are
supposed to do. But like other worthy
goals, sometimes we need to ask ourselves, are we actually doing it. In this case, we need to ask ourselves, “are
we actually doing good.”
It leads us to another
question. How would we know if what we
are doing is good? As the Apostle Paul
said, ““I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is
beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is
constructive.” (1 Corinthians 10:23) The
best guidance I can find in this respect is Jesus’s words from the Sermon on
the Mount: Matthew 5:16 says, “In the
same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your Father in heaven.”
“They may see” and “glorify your
Father.” Good deeds are those that point
others to God, not ourselves. This
speaks to the motivation behind what we do.
When we do good things, are we trying to attract attention to
ourselves? Are we trying to get “credit”
in some way? Are we doing a good thing
for someone in hopes of getting something good in return? I’ll admit that the answer for myself to all
three of those questions is often “yes.”
I want others to regard me as a “good man” and I do want good things
from others. Let me clear here. I don’t see anything terrible about wanting
those things, but the “bar” for the spiritual fruit of goodness is higher. It is a goodness produced by our actions that
points others to God. Please know this;
people know the difference. Self-serving
goodness and Spirt-produced goodness feel different to the recipient. One feels like manipulation and one feels
like grace.
I have been the recipient of that
gracious fruit many times in my life. I
pursued my calling as a pastor because
of so many helped me see what God was doing in my life. Many of the people who helped me never knew
they did. Some others know I was helped
but seem almost surprised that what they did had any part in it. In the times I realize that something I did
accomplished some Godly good, I am often awestruck.
You see, like the other fruits
we’ve been talking about, the spiritual fruit of goodness is not something we
can grow and produce ourselves. It
sometimes involves us being open to quiet promptings to do things that might
not seem important or make sense in the moment.
It sometimes involves us pressing through work that we feel called to do
but often feel unmotivated to continue.
It sometimes means that we do good things that for which we know we will
not get any personal reward or credit.
Every once in a while though, God lets us see how those good works made
a difference we couldn’t see in the moment.
And that leaves us wanting more of that sweet, sweet fruit.
Prayer: God, make us
goodness fruit producers. Mold our
spirits and our actions in such a way that they can point others to you. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Spend
some time remembering the times when you were the recipient of good fruit that
helped you sense God’s activity in your life.
Thank God for the goodness fruit producers that helped you.
Song: Thank You For
Giving to the Lord – Ray Boltz
