Do Good

From The Desk of a Geek:

Do Good

I love a good western movie. Tonight I watched a pretty good one called 

Goodnight For Justice staring the late Luke Perry of the 90's teen drama 

90210, and most recently Riverdale.

Luke Perry plays John Goodnight,

a circuit judge in the Wyoming territory 

In one scene you see Judge Goodnight talking to a young boy, and the boy asked if spitting is wrong, and if he is guilty. 

Goodnight replies, "Although spitting isn't against the law, we are all guilty of something....

Every man is guilty of NOT doing enough good".

What keeps us from doing good? Sometimes it’s our busyness. Other times it may be that doing something good is not convenient. Or perhaps we just don’t want to go against social norms, so we hold back. Whatever the reason, at one time or another, most of us have passed up an opportunity to do something good for someone.

The Pharisees presented Jesus with a difficult situation. Their laws said it was a violation to do work on the Sabbath, unless it meant saving a life. But here in the temple was a man with a withered hand. His life was not in danger, though. Should he be healed on the Sabbath?

Jesus didn’t even hesitate. He asked the religious leaders what they would do if something bad happened to one of their precious sheep on the Sabbath. 

Of course they would help the animal. And wasn’t a person more valuable than a sheep? This man with a shriveled hand was precious to God. So of course this man could be helped on the Sabbath. Then Jesus healed the man.

Should anything stop us from doing good for each other? No.

Nothing stood in Jesus’ way. 

We are his treasured possessions. 

He has done and will do whatever it takes to rescue us and make us whole. Healing, deliverance, salvation, care—none of these things is beyond reason for God to act. So nothing should stand in our way either.

We learn in Revelation 22:1, John saw “the river of the water of life… flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”  

John noticed that the leaves of the trees that lined the river’s banks were used for “the healing of the nations”.

What a beautiful picture.  We may borrow the picture and apply it to ourselves, for Scripture uses the same symbol to describe the happy person who is planted by the river of God with her roots in the river of life.

Our lives should offer relief from the heat and shelter from the storm to those who need it.  People should take one look at our ever green lives and make a beeline for us.  Our lives should be full of healing, relief, and balm.

Are your leaves used for healing?  You can be a tree of life for others.  

If I think about my life in recent days and years, I ask myself, “Have people beaten a path to my door because they know where help can be found?”  I want to be a tree Like Jeremiah describes with its roots in the river, its leaves ever green, and fruit that never fails.

When I my father got sick, I knew the heat was on.  Coming from a family with little evangelical background, I knew there would be lots of opportunities to offer my leaves for healing in the days to come.  

But this was my great test, too!  This was my beloved father who was entering the valley of the shadow.  I would be struggling with my own huge sense of loss.  How could I help others when I needed such a lot of help myself?

The answer was the river, the river of life.  Life in the Spirit offered a source of life to me in the very face of death. 

My job would be to keep my roots in the river, my leaves full of sap, and stay ever green.  It was a hard, hot, desert experience for me, but the Spirit of God was sufficient to supply all I needed, not only for myself, but also for others.  God was indeed a life-giving spring.

Lonnie..