"If
with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped?
Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the
opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at
attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master."
Life never operates according to the calendar. We try to plan and hope that things will happen according to the time-frames that we envisage - but that seldom ever happens. Ever. The reason for this is because we cannot completely control what happens, that's GOD's job.
Regardless of this fact, we still try.
What we read above tells us that even if we do good stuff, life may not proceed according to our plans. There is an incorrect world philosophy that says "if you do good things, good things will happen to you". The problem with this egocentric take is that it puts the perception of absolute control into our hands... and we know that we can never have absolute control, again, that's GOD's responsibility.
What we read above tells us that even if we do good stuff, life may not proceed according to our plans. There is an incorrect world philosophy that says "if you do good things, good things will happen to you". The problem with this egocentric take is that it puts the perception of absolute control into our hands... and we know that we can never have absolute control, again, that's GOD's responsibility.
Here's an awesome quote to chew on...
"The purpose of {Christianity} is not to avoid difficulty, but to produce a character adequate to meet it when it comes. It does not make life easy; rather it tries to make us great enough for life."
James Christensen
So, what does doing good do?
Doing good shows where our faith lies. Anyone can show love and perform great acts of philanthropy when they feel loved and good things are happening to them. But it takes faith in someone bigger than our circumstances to do good when our circumstances are less than what we'd planned for, when things are going tragically wrong and our earthly strengths and comforts crumble away
God promises that He will give us the strength to endure - 'not by
might, nor by power, but by the Spirit... shall you succeed'. (Zech 4:6)
We should not be disheartened by the tragedies, hurts and irritations
of life, but rather keep our attention and adoration on Jesus! It is by GOD's Grace that we can have such easy, powerful and enabling access to His righteousness.
When Peter was walking on the water towards Jesus there was one thing that made him begin to sink, his fear. Fear of his circumstances. (Mat 14:22-33)
Whatever your circumstances are today, don't let them hold you back from serving GOD our Master with all your heart, all your passion and all your worship. Fear distracts us from the omnipotence of GOD; it distracts, doubts and discourages us - the three deadly d's! Don't let fear keep you from accessing and experiencing Grace.
The way to rid ourselves of fear is displacement, we need to fill ourselves with something greater than fear that will drive out all fear. That something is the presence of the Holy Spirit, through Grace, and we do it by keeping our heart's attentive and adoring of Christ. Grace tells us that we are perfect in Christ's finished work on the cross - that we have nothing to do, it's all been done already. As a natural overflowing from the saturation of GOD in our lives, our heart and soul will compel us to do good...
May I encourage you to worship when you feel overcome by the world. May I encourage you to deepen your faith by enduring tough times and allow the Holy Spirit to work within you to produce a character and spirit that is not one of fear, but rather a spirit of power, love and self-control!
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