Do good
By Edna Morgan
Special to The Commercial
(This is Part 1 of a 2 part column.)
I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
This devotional comes from a sermon that I preached recently. I continue to meditate on it, because there is always room for me to become more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is what sanctification requires of us.
When I meditated on the scripture, James 2:8, instructing us to “love our neighbors as ourselves;” and, 1 Peter 3:13 that encourages us to be “eager to do what is good,” my heart sang at the beauty of the words, yet I know there is much growth required for me. I wondered what joy would surround us, if all believers in Jesus Christ purposed in our hearts daily to “Do Something Good” for someone in our community.
One of my faith’s general rules is “Do Good.” Since we are called to practice our faith daily, it would be delightful to see how we could change the world just by looking for ways to “do good,” right where God has planted us. I encourage you to read and meditate on James 2 and 1 Peter 3. These chapters challenge us to practice faith daily as the people of God.
James and Peter write to encourage believers in this new faith, Christianity. The new believers live with pressures and challenges, just like us. If we are to follow Jesus, we live righteous lives even during challenges (trials, tribulations, and suffering). Life is filled with happiness and sadness, love and hate, war and peace; however, I have found that helping another person in the midst of challenging times gives a measure of joy in the midst of our struggles.
If Job could work through his excruciating losses without losing his devotion to God, so can we. Job may not have had the wisest friends; however, he was unwavering in his devotion to God. Remember, earth is not our home anyway, so why would we expect a life of ease in a place that is filled with imperfect people, including us. Our home is literally “out of this world,” in the New Jerusalem prepared for us before the foundation of the world. Therefore, it is imperative that we look to the hills from which comes our help. Our help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and all that is therein.
In Peter, believers are told to be eager to do what is good in the midst of our suffering. Eager means excited, intentional, alert, focused, ready and willing to live our faith. Being eager to do good means we are looking for ways to help those who need us. Doing what is good requires intentionality.
If we want to be blessed by God, we do what is right even in the midst of our suffering. That requires maturity in the faith. We purpose in our hearts to put Jesus first in our lives. Jesus’ way of life becomes our way of life. We are ready to share the hope that we have through Jesus, who died on Calvary for us, so we can experience abundant life. When Jesus was resurrected into heaven, Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, so we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live using our spiritual gifts and possessions for good.
When we pray without ceasing, listening for God’s direction, we see God everywhere and in everyone, and are alert to hear the Spirit’s promptings to help in new ways, being creative with new expressions of ministries with love. When we pray without ceasing, we receive power from God during our challenging times, so those whom we serve see our little lights shining with hope, joy, love, peace (fruit of God’s Spirit) and they want to experience abundant life, too.
The Holy Spirit working in believers helps us draw others into the body of Christ, so the beat of the Spirit’s movement continues until the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. When we suffer for doing what is right, God blesses us. Sharing our hope means telling others what God has done for us. In giving Jesus our wholehearted, continual worship doing what is right even in trials with gentleness and respect, we live our faith peaceably in a world that seems to prefer chaos. This world needs gentleness and peace. We have both from our BAPTISM, where we received every fruit of God’s Spirit.
Sources: Three General Rules by Reuben Job, Bible Gateway, Barclay Commentary, and Living Our Beliefs: the United Methodist Way by Kenneth Carder.
The Rev. Edna Morgan is pastor of St. Luke United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff. Her husband, David Morgan, is a retired pastor in the Arkansas Conference, and together, they established a 501(c) (3) non-profit retreat center, Healing Place Ministries, in 2004, that serves the Pine Bluff and Jefferson County areas.
Editor’s note: Pastors, ministers or other writers interested in writing for this section may submit articles for consideration to shope@adgnewsroom.com. Writers should have connections to Southeast Arkansas. Please include your name, phone number and the name and location of your church or ministry.