Last weekend Judy & I (with Jennifer & Savannah) ran in a 5K race to benefit the Kassie Wingerd Scholarship in Clinton. Kassie is a girl who was part of our church and died at the age of 13 from leukemia. We didn’t run because we wanted to run but to do something good for a sweet girl and her family.
I have discovered that when you do good for others you feel good yourself. I think God has placed that in all of us. But sometimes I don’t feel like doing good. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I choose not to do good.
Jesus faced some situations that I might have chosen not to do good. But instead of turning away from doing good, He went ahead and did good anyway.
And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. (Mark 3:1-6)
Do Good even though you might fail.
This man was a cripple and I know if I tried to heal him, I would probably fail. So why do anything? But that’s not the point. You do what you can. Jesus could heal him… so He did. If I had been there, I could have prayed with him, I could have helped him with a little money or food, I could have brought him to Jesus, I could have done a lot of things.
When faced with a situation that I may fail, I need to do what I can and leave the rest to God. When we do what we can, Jesus will do the rest.
Do Good even tough you might be faulty
Jesus was faced with breaking some of the religious rules by healing the man on the Sabbath. If it had been me, I would have probably waited until the next day. But Jesus decided to do good immediately rather than wait.
When we are faced with doing good it often comes with the potential to go in the wrong direction. So it’s a lot easier to do nothing or wait until another time than take risk. But as a Christian, our wrongs have all been forgiven by Christ. So, the only thing we must do now is do right. I like a quote by John Wesley…
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 you ever can.
– John Wesley
Do Good even tough friends intimidate you
I think Jesus was set up. I think the religious leaders put the crippled man in the synagogue to capture Jesus breaking their rules. But when Jesus healed him, without doing ANY work, they were mad and planned His death. They thought Jesus healing on the Sabbath was wrong, but it was okay for them to plot His murder. What?!
When faced with doing good, not everyone will be on our side. Sometimes our “friends” pressure us to do nothing. Why get involved? Why take the risk? Why help them? Your actions will attract some people and anger others. Do good anyway.
So, let’s go out and do what we can when the opportunity presents itself today. It may not seem like much, but even a little good goes a long way.