Do Good
July 28, 2024
3 John 1:11, Acts 10:38, Luke 4:18-19
Friend, don’t go along with evil. Model the good. The person who does good does God’s work. The person who does evil falsifies God, doesn’t know the first thing about God.
3 John 1:11 (The Message)
You know about Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and endowed with power. Jesus traveled around doing good and healing everyone oppressed by the devil because God was with him.
Acts 10:38 (CEB)
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“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.”
While the attribution of this well known quote to John Wesley is heavily questioned by scholars, it remains true to the Wesleyan Spirit and the second of our General Rules, “to do good.” As our conference youth put it, we are called to “do good however, whatever, wherever, whenever, forever.”
Like our rule last week, “Do no harm,” the rule to “Do Good” seems fairly simple and straight forward, but there are a lot of open ended questions. How much good must we do? How often? To whom? How much do we have to sacrifice for the sake of doing good to others?
I once saw someone pose the question, “What is the least I have to do and still be a Christian?” While we may not ask it quite so crudely, if we’re honest we often ask a lot of similar questions. We try to be good people, but in the back of our minds we may question if we have been good enough or if we have done enough? The truth is there is always more to be done and compassion fatigue is very real. Our resources are limited, not only financially, but also physically and emotionally. We don’t always have enough information or enough bandwidth to do all the good we would like to do and it is easy to feel overwhelmed and give up altogether.
I think that’s all the more reason to reflect again on the quote so often attributed to Wesley. Consider using it as a prayer of examen at the end of each night.
Today, did I do all the good I could do?
Did I use every means possible to do good?
Did I do good in every way I thought of?
Did I do good in every place I went?
Did I do good to every person I encountered?
Did I keep doing good to the end of the day without giving up?
If we’re honest with ourselves, the answers will often be “no.” We all fall short and these questions should never make us judge or shame ourselves. They should, however, invite us to ask in every moment, what is the most good I can do, right here, right now, in this situation… and trust that God will use it and multiply it and that it will be enough. They also give us an opportunity to celebrate and give thanks for the good God empowered us to do.
In what specific ways is God calling you to do good this week?