Tag Archives: good

Do good things for someone (Luke 14:12-14) December 1, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ecclesiastes 11-12

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 14:12-14
Jesus: When you host a dinner or banquet, don’t invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors. If you do, they might invite you to a party of their own, and you’ll be repaid for your kindness. Instead, invite the poor, the amputees, the cripples, the blind. Then you’ll be blessed because they can never repay you. Your reward will come from God at the resurrection of the just and good.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

When is the last time you just did something good for someone you didn’t know? When I was in uniform, it happened to me often. Desert Storm changed the way Americans viewed service members after many years of not caring much about them. That series of events, however, brought our attention back to the freedoms we enjoy as a privilege of living in this country. And service men and women around the world help to protect those freedoms.

So after I returned from Desert Storm, it wasn’t uncommon if I was in uniform to eat in an airport during my travels or at restaurant on my way to or from some official function and find that when I went to pay for my meal someone had already paid my bill. I seldom knew who did it and the manager usually told me the person didn’t want to be recognized, just wanted to tangibly express his thanks for my service. It was pretty touching.

I try to do that every once in a while. No reason except I feel prompted to do it. I don’t want anyone to know my name. I don’t want any recognition. I just want to give because God has blessed me in so many ways. I think that’s what Jesus is talking about when He talks to the host of the dinner He attended that day 2000 years ago. I think He would commend those folks who buy the lunch of a soldier just because. I think He would be happy about giving away a new shirt with the tags still on it to the guy sleeping under the bridge. I think He would be happy about inviting that visitor to your church to lunch knowing they are just passing through and may never stop in your town again.

Something happens to you when you do those things. You get a good feeling inside because you’ve done something good with no expectation of payment. No expectation of anything in return. No hope that you will receive any reciprocal favor. You just do something good and doing good things has internal rewards that are hard to describe.

First, they take your mind off your own problems. When you help other people, you don’t focus on yourself and the day to day issues you face. When you focus on you, those little ankle biters seem to consume you. When you begin to help others and just look for random acts of kindness you can do expecting nothing in return, you focus on others and don’t have as much time to ruminate about you.

Second, studies are showing that doing good for others releases those endorphins runners talk about. You get that natural high without drugs or artificial stimulants and at the same time someone else benefits from your kind act. So a double blessing happens, the person who receives your help and the healthy hormones released into your body when you just do good things.

Third, Jesus makes a pretty significant promise here. He says that your reward will not come from men, because you have purposely done things for those who cannot repay you, right? Your reward will come from God. He will reward you at the resurrection for your just and good deeds. That is so much better than the temporary payment you might get on this side of the grave. Whatever you receive here you can’t take it with you. But what God gives you, lasts throughout eternity.

And doing good doesn’t have to cost you anything. Maybe you know a young mother that needs some respite from her kids. Or an elderly person that just needs some company. Maybe some volunteer house cleaning for someone that is getting over an illness or a loss. How about some handyman work? What kind of skills do you have that you can just give to someone who needs it.

I think God gives us talents and skills and experiences to help each other, not necessarily just for personal gain. Sure, we can earn a reasonable living with the skills He has given us, but He has also given us those gifts to share with others so they can understand the love of God given freely to those around us. After all, He gives us His grace freely. He shed His blood for us and forgives us when we ask. Why wouldn’t we give ourselves in service to others since He has done so much for us.

So now the only thing left to do is keep your eyes open today for the opportunity to do some random act of kindness for someone today expecting nothing in return. Just do something good. You’ll enjoy it, I promise. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Bad things happen (Luke 13:2-5) November 23, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 134-136

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 13:2-5
Jesus: Do you think these Galileans were somehow being singled out for their sins, that they were worse than any other Galileans, because they suffered this terrible death? Of course not. But listen, if you do not consider God’s ways and truly change, then friends, you should prepare to face His judgment and eternal death.
Speaking of current events, you’ve all heard about the 18 people killed in that building accident when the tower in Siloam fell. Were they extraordinarily bad people, worse than anyone else in Jerusalem, so that they would deserve such an untimely death? Of course not. But all the buildings of Jerusalem will come crashing down on you if you don’t wake up and change direction now.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I think from the time Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden as punishment for that first act of disobedience, we seem to lay the blame for every bad thing that happens at God’s feet. It must be God’s punishment for something that caused him to go through that terrible tragedy. It must be some sin in her life that brought on that awful disease. God is punishing him for actions in his past. That must be true, right? Wrong!

There are a couple of things we can learn from these words from Jesus, though. He makes it pretty clear not all the bad things that happen to us are because of sin in our lives. The Galileans killed by the Romans were killed as a demonstration that Rome was still in charge. No reason for their murder other than they came to Jerusalem to worship and perhaps didn’t have all the right permissions stamped on their papers. The Romans ruled with an iron fist and showed their ruthless power occasionally just to let people know who still ruled them and it wasn’t those temple priests.

Jesus let those around him know the Galileans that lost their lives did nothing more or less than any others around them yet lost their lives. It’s not their individual sins that caused those bad things to happen, it’s the fact that death entered the cosmos with that first sin Adam and Even committed and so bad things happen to everyone. Trouble in life is a universal issue for all of us. We all get sick. We all face taxes and bills and mortgages. We all find laws conflicting with other laws and have to make choices as to which we will bend to follow others. We all find difficult relationships with someone somewhere.

Face it. Bad things happen to us occasionally. We can’t get away from it. Expect it. And it comes just because we breathe air on this side of dirt. If you take that first breath out of your mother’s womb, you will have bad things happen to you. It’s a fact of life and you just can’t get away. Maybe it’s like James Dobson once said, it’s to keep us from getting too comfortable here and help us remember there is a better place awaiting us. If we never had problems here, we might not long for heaven the way we do. So maybe it’s okay for bad things to happen just because.

But Jesus also indicates that sometimes bad things do happen as a result of our wrong doing. That wasn’t true for those Galileans who were killed or the victims of the tower wall that fell in Siloam, but He warns those listening to Him that they better changed their ways or bad things will happen to them soon. He says the walls of Jerusalem will come crashing down on them if they don’t change.

Those are interesting words considering in forty years the Romans will destroy Jerusalem and the temple and the whole city will be reduced to rubble. I wonder how many of those in that crowd were caught under the falling stones as catapults and battering rams smashed the walls. Some of them didn’t change their ways. We know that from their behavior toward Jesus at the mock trial, calling for His crucifixion, mocking Him on the cross.

So some of the bad things that happen to us are a result of our wrong doing. Either natural consequences of our bad behavior, like the health problems that come from drug addiction, abuse of alcohol, and a host of other illicit behaviors. Or punishment from God for our disobedience to Him like He did with the Israelites and sent a plague among the community.

The bottom line for any individual is that you know your heart. Is there any unconfessed sin there? If so, ask God to forgive it and thank Him for His forgiveness. Then recognize that all of us will suffer in this world. Accept the suffering as identifying with our Lord. He suffered and died for us and was sinless. If He suffered and did no wrong, then we have nothing to complain about when we suffer for the wrong we do. Bad things will happen to us. Use them to remember Jesus faced bad things, too. He faced them so we can enjoy good things for all eternity.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Do some good today (Luke 6:9-10) September 29, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 26-27

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 6:9-10
Jesus: Here’s a question for you: On the Sabbath Day, is it lawful to do good or to do harm? Is it lawful to save life or to destroy it?
He turned His gaze to each of them, one at a time. Then He spoke to the man.
Jesus: Stretch your hand out.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus made a habit of doing good. He also made a habit of going to the synagogue or the temple on the Sabbath. He knew the importance of both. He knew we were created to do good for others as a demonstration of the love God pours into our lives individually and collectively. It’s important to show God’s love through actively doing good for others. The Pharisees, though, began to obscure the lines. They didn’t understand the two fit together the way Jesus did. They knew we should do good for others, but not at the expense of the Sabbath rules.

Are we guilty of the same, today? Do we let rules get in the way of doing what’s right? The Pharisees’ traditions about how far you could walk, how much weight you could carry, what kind of activities you could perform, all led to this farce concerning the purpose of the Sabbath. Jesus knew the Sabbath was created for our good. To make sure we rested from our labor and recovered from the toil that came as part of the curse on humanity for the sin of Adam’s race. We needed that day of rest and a reminder that God gives us our both our purpose and our ability to carry out that purpose.

The scribes and Pharisees, those who should have known best, perverted the Sabbath and made it something God never intended it to be. They made it a burden just to make it through the day without violating one of the many rules the religious rulers set in place. There were so many, it was impossible to keep up with them and many of them didn’t make sense even to God. Like allowing a person to get his ox out of a ditch on the Sabbath, but not allowing that same person to take a meal to a sick friend on the Sabbath. How does that make sense? Isn’t it more effort to get the ox out of the ditch? And aren’t people more important than oxen?

Do we do what the scribes and Pharisees did and pervert God’s intent for our setting aside time to remember Him? Do we forget that our purpose is to worship Him and demonstrate His love for us by doing good for others? Do we focus on rules instead of doing good and get those roles reversed? Do we get so hung up on our petty traditions that we forget that people are the most important thing around us?

It’s a lesson that’s so easy to forget. I think that’s why the gospels included this story. I’m not sure Jesus intended to heal anyone that day. I’m not sure He expected to face down the Pharisees once again on that Sabbath day, but then again, He’s God, so He might have known all about it. In any event, Jesus saw the opportunity to help a man in need. He saw the chance to do good for someone and He took it. Why? Because doing good for others is how we can best demonstrate God’s love.

Did Jesus break the Sabbath? Not so sure He did. Paul and the writer of Hebrews say Jesus was sinless. If that’s so, then His actions on the Sabbath certainly did’t constitute sin. And if His actions on that Sabbath day were in violation of the fourth commandment to keep the Sabbath holy, then it would have been a sin, right? So what the Pharisees saw as wrong in their perverted sense of what it meant to keep the Sabbath and what God intended for us in keeping the Sabbath are obviously in opposition to each other.

So which pattern should we follow? The rules and regulations that burden us and make us look pious to those around us or those that Jesus showed us, doing good for others? I think the answer is clear. Does that mean we should go out and work to make a living on the Sabbath? There are some that must work on the day that some hold as the Sabbath. Firefighters, police, healthcare workers, and a host of others don’t have a choice as they provide essential services to our community. But many of us do have a choice and should set aside a regular day to stop and remember God and recover from our routine labor.

Jesus said it best, the Sabbath was made for us, not the other way around. It was made as a time for us to not just consider God and His love, but to demonstrate it to a world that needs it so much. Is it right to do good on the Sabbath or harm? It’s a pretty easy answer. Go do some good for someone today and everyday. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Only One is good (Matthew 19:17) May 2, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Exodus 17-20

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 19:17
Jesus: Strange that you should ask Me what is good. There is only One who is good. If you want to participate in His divine life, obey the Commandments.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We talk a lot today about tolerance. We tolerate different religions, we tolerate all forms of education, we tolerate every political view, we tolerate gender identities. We seem to tolerate just about anything that comes along. I think there’s something wrong with that when I read Jesus’ words in Matthew 19. Yes, we need to tolerate people and have compassion on them. But no where do I see Jesus tolerating behavior that runs contradictory to God’s commandments.

This young man found himself in a world similar to ours. At this point in Rome’s history, their citizens’ primary goal seemed focused on personal pleasure. They engaged in the most base practices to satisfy those desires. Crowds visited the Collosium to watch men slaughter each other. Crucifixions gathered crowds just to view the spectacle of horror and agony endured by other men. Sensuality and sexual exploitation even became part of the temple worship of their gods to legitimize the evil acts they sought to satisfy their sensual desires.

Nothing seemed beyond limits of what the Romans and by association, what the surrounding nations would do to appease their growing demand for something that would satisfy the fleshly desires that continued to demand greater and greater action for an equally sensual response. So the young man comes to Jesus and asks, “What good deed can I do to assure myself of eternal life?”

I’m especially fascinated by Jesus’ answer now. Our vocabulary turns everything around. Gay meant happy when I was growing up, not sexually attracted to the same gender. Bad meant the opposite of good, yet today people refer to something as bad meaning it’s high quality music. We have screwed up our language and our meanings so much that no one understands what anyone else is talking about. It’s no wonder we can’t communicate any more. We abuse the English language to an extent we don’t know what good and bad mean any more.

Jesus clears it up. There is only One who is good. Do what He says to do. He’s the judge. Obey His commandments. I don’t see much tolerance in Jesus’ words there. I don’t see Him saying, “Well, you can follow anyone that sounds like he’s succeeding in the world.” It doesn’t sound like Jesus advocates, “Just do what feels good.”

I don’t think Jesus meant to say, “Any religion works as long as you’re sincere in your belief.” Jesus’ words come out pretty straight forward and remarkably clear. God is good. Do what He says if you want assurance of eternal life. That’s the only way to get it. There’s not other path, nothing you can pay, no spells you can cast, nothing else you can do. Just obey what He tells you to do. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

We make it difficult because we don’t like His commands. We don’t want to follow His rules. He says take control of your body. Stop satisfying those fleshly desires in evil ways. Instead listen to what He says and He will satisfy the desires of your soul, but in ways that meet His requirements and in ways that keep you pure and holy. God will get you through this life without yielding to the temptations that Satan sets in front of you. He will let you tap into the same resurrection power that raised His Son, Jesus, from the dead.

We make it difficult because we want to find some easier way to get to heaven. We think there’s some other judge out there that will give us a different set of rules that let us off the hook and let us do what we want instead of what God wants. There is not.

We make it difficult because we want our way. We think we are smarter than God and want the baubles the world flashes in front of us assuming them permanent decorations, when none of those things last. Most of them don’t even last through our lifetime, much less through eternity. We just don’t want to accept that God’s way is the only way to gain eternal life.

But until we realize the truth of Jesus’ words, “There is only One who is good. Listen to His words, obey His commands. Eternal life is the reward for those who do.” Until we recognize that truth, we will continue to traipse down dead-end paths wasting time and effort for nothing. There is no other way to God than through Jesus, the Son of the living God. As He told us so many centuries ago, He is the truth, the life, and the way. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.