There Is No Merit In Not Doing Evil.

 

By Paul Joseph

It’s doing good things that counts. “To him that knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.” (Ja 4:17).  What good is there in not doing addictive or harmful things?

People pride themselves in enumerating all that they have given up to serve the Lord, “I gave up smoking, I gave up drinking, partying, carousing, sleeping around,”  and they act like everything they have forsaken was such a big sacrifice, when in actuality all those things were literally killing them and those around them!

Jesus delivered us from all of that so that we could be free to do good works. You’ve only let go of all that was binding you, your demons, your shackles. But that’s not the big sacrifice. The big sacrifice is to step out to love people with God’s love. That’s where the surrender comes in.

It’s a lot easier to nurture your private time, your own desires and plans, than it is to go out and help others. Most people are quite happy watching TV, reading books, and doing their little gardening and taking care of so many little projects rather than going out to lead people to the Lord. What good is that to Jesus if you’re all squeaky clean and won’t dirty yourself to care for your neighbor with God’s love?

You’d be surprised how many things get knocked off people’s “to do” list on the on night the church organizes a witnessing evening. “Oh! I would love to go out, but I told my wife I’d mow the lawn and really, if you saw how long the grass is, it’s really a bad sample to my neighbors.” So many good things can come before the better things.

When it comes to the kingdom, our first responsibility is of course to love God, but equally important is to love people with God’s love.

If we’d all be doing the good that Jesus told us to do, the world would not be in such a mess. Jesus said, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give!'” (Mk 10:14) That is a command to believers!  Go out and show them how the Word of God is to be obeyed. –That’s what changes people. The Word only works when you work it, otherwise it’s just good principles.

If we take a hard look at what matters most to God, we will be disappointed with what we’ve done with our life, when we meet Him. He said,

“When I was hungry you fed me,

when I was thirsty you gave me to drink,

when I was a stranger you took me in,

when I was naked you clothed me,

when I was sick and in prison you visited me.

For as much as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you’ve done it unto me.

And as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” (Mat 25:40 – 45).

The part of us that we have to surrender is to deny ourselves and walk up to strangers and share God’s love with them. That’s what “renewing our mind” is all about. – – to discipline our thoughts away from all the fears and the excuses we come up with for not doing what God wants us to do. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Ro 12:2). 

The struggle is to get over ourselves, to force ourselves to care. The struggle is in crucifying the “old man” in order to do the right thing instead of justifying ourselves for not doing “evil things“ and being good. Let’s face it, most people out there don’t know what we know and if we were to share it with them, they could live in total freedom, and be filled with the same joy, peace, happiness as we have.

The fact that we don’t share the TRUE riches that we have been given is worse than not sharing our financial wealth. The homeless person, besides needing money and food, needs someone to care, someone to talk to, someone who will show him/her how love works. Life can be so full-filling when you deny yourself and live to love others.

The happiest Christians were the ones always out there sharing love, witnessing, getting involved, visiting prisons, hospitals, caring for the homeless, and the list goes on. Those are the ones that are full of testimonies of all that God is doing for people. Love is not love until it is shared.

We are called to be the “salt of the earth”, and the light of the world. We’ve got the real thing that can change people’s destiny to reset their compass aright to help them their whole life long. The greatest freedom is to let go of all that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; all our petty projects that we put before God’s will to reach out and be a light.

Some people say, “My religion is private between me and God.” Then that’s all you have, religion. Either that, or your god is you and your own plans. You have not denied your life in order to help others.

Remember it’s always right to do what’s right. We are born again to walk out Jesus. The whole purpose of the new creature is to reflect the image of God and to be like Jesus. The Holy Spirit urges us to step out and to care.

The apostle John said, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1Jn 4:20).

Truth be told, if you’re not involved in some way that shows God’s love to others, your religion remains with you. Everything we do should resemble everything Jesus did. Renewing our mind is to learn how to act out Jesus to the world. “If you know these things, happy are you, if you do them” (Jn 13:17). It’s not all about the knowledge of the Word, it’s about obeying the Word. Jesus made it clear when He said, “If you are only a hearer, your house will fall apart, but if you are a DOER of the Word, your house is built on a rock and it will not fall.” (Mat 7:24-27). 

We need to force ourselves to think the thoughts of Christ and to do them to where it becomes natural for us to be like Christ; then we live according to our new nature, our DNA is the DNA of God –the Divine Nature Attributes of God. It is the person who touches people and changes lives who’s truly recreated, restored to God’s image. We need to get to where it’s second nature to care, to give, to heal, to free. It’s when we get to where we won’t know if it’s me or God who’s doing the right thing; that’s when your nature has become God’s.

Then you walk according to God’s recreated image in you. His will becomes your will, and your will becomes His will. Your life is no longer confused, but fused in God. Draw nigh to God by doing His will and He’ll draw nigh to you. You draw nigh to God by drawing nigh to people and loving on them and doing God’s number one priorities.