Do Good!

Do Good!

See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 AMPC

The charge in the verse above was delivered by Paul, Silas and Timothy to the church in Thessalonica. Timothy was a man who God had helped by the ministry of Paul. By the natural order of the Jews, Timothy was not worthy to stand before men as one called by God, because his father was Greek. He was not circumcised at birth, as was the custom of the Jews, and which was a symbol of the covenant God had with Abraham. However, as we now know about God, the human limits and restrictions do not apply to those who God chooses to help and call to Himself. The Jews would have disliked and despised him, but by the help of God and the ministry of Paul, he was able to become a minister too, and he became a great blessing to the church of Christ at the time. Wd find him as co-writer of the letters to the churches in Philippi and Colosse, as well as Thessalonica, and a personal letter to Philemon. 

Imagine if Paul was like everyone else, who thought the boy Timothy was of no use. What could have happened if the boy was helped by someone else, and he became influential and powerful? What would have stopped him from paying people back the same way he was treated? We thank God for how He places people on our paths to be a blessing to us in some instances, and a lesson and caution to us in some instances. What is critical is that I know who God is, and I follow Him closely. I am not permitted to excuse my bad behaviour as treating eople the way I have been treated, because that is not the standard expected from those who claim to know and follow Christ. How I have been treated is the other person's choice, and my reaction or response to the person is also my personal choice. You cannot give what you do not have. I have to prove that talk is not cheap; my walk must match my talk.

It is almost as if the verse is charging me to ensure that paying back evil for evil does not happen under my watch. Every action must be met with grace, not a desire for revenge. Every experience for me must be an opportunity to reflect and respond with the love of God which has changed my life from the inside and now manifests on the outside. The aim is to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody. It impacts the people in the church, as well as those who are outside the church. We are not hypocritical people who say one thing and do the very opposite, but our talk and walk are aligned. We are also not people who are selective about who we are nice to, like the Jews at the time were, but we see the world as the place of assignment, and lives as those in need of God's touch. We will strive to do our best to touch lives, so that the message of Christ can be attractive and accepted. Would you do the same? God's time of favour is here.