Last week’s sermon passage ended with these challenging words: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Gal 6:10). So what does it mean to ‘do good to all’?
The most important thing must be to call people to flee the coming wrath. If we are not (i) Praying for our non-Christian friends and family, (ii) Inviting them along to meet Jesus, and (iii) looking for opportunities to Engage them in gospel conversations (as our Outreach program says, P.I.E), then we cannot claim to be doing them much good at all.
Yet sinning against the Lord does not only reap destruction in the next life, it damages this life too. The reason being that God created the universe in a particular way. If we go against his moral guidelines, terrible things happen. The human heart was simply not designed to harbour bitterness, lust, greed or pride. If we see a loved one trapped in a particular sin, the way we ‘do good’ is to very gently and very humbly help to restore them to full spiritual health, in a non-judgmental way.
A third way we do good for people is to see where their needs lie, and go out of our way to meet those needs. True Christians don’t do this to show off (pride), or to earn salvation (fear); but out of the overflow of God’s love shown to us in Christ. Nor do we do this only if we can afford the time, money or energy. To ‘carry each other’s burdens’ (Gal 6:2) means we feel burdened by doing good. If we give time or money that we can easily spare, then it isn’t a burden to us, is it?
So may we continue to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters, encourage them, and lend a helping hand as opportunities arise. May we do good to all people, just as Jesus has done good to us.
