One of the more interesting discussions that I have with people tends to revolve around the reason that we do good thing in life. As you can imagine, every person seems to have their own idea on why they do the good that they do in life. For some, it comes from their desire to please others, or to do what others expect of them. For others, it comes from a desire to do the good that God would expect of us. And yet, for others, they may not actually care too much one way or the other if they do good, or if it impacts others.
This is actually a line of thought that I have been having for some time. So I'll start out by posing a brief question, and then showing the different ways that we could answer it. The question is: Do we do good things for God, for others, for both, or for neither? How we answer this question says a lot about how we understand God and how we understand life.
If we tend to do our good things for God, then usually we try to tie up those good things in some way with proving that we are good to God. We do something nice for our neighbor, and we expect God to "reward" us, or think that we have earned some kind of points in His eyes. The reality is, there are a number of places in the Bible that we could look to support this view. We hear Jesus saying that if we give a cup of water to one of His followers, we have done it for Him. That would seem to suggest that the good we do is done for God.
At the same time, we could also say that we do good for the benefit of our neighbor, and not necessarily directly for God. After all, does God need that cup of water that we give to someone else? That hardly seems likely. Therefore, we did something good for the benefit of our neighbor. God doesn't "gain" anything from our action, and so the primary beneficiary is our neighbor.
Of course, there is always someone out there who will say that the same action of giving a cup of water is done both for God and for the neighbor. While God does not directly benefit from the cup of water, it fits in line with His desire that we love our neighbors as ourselves. It directly benefits our neighbor because it is an action of love and care, which helps to build up the community in which we live. It shares godly love with others, which is something that both God and our neighbor desire.
There are always those who will try to answer this in another way, though. They are the ones who say that God has made them right through Jesus, and that's all that matters, and so they don't "have" to do good for their neighbor. While it is true that faith in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is what makes us right with God, having security in that relationship does not excuse us from our earthly relationships with one another. This is where we don't do them directly for God, but a refusal to do them is also to live in such a way that is contrary to how God created us to live life together, which is simply another way of saying that we live in sin.
So why do you do good in life? I hope these thoughts help you think that question through and bring a little clarity into the difference between doing good for God and doing good for others.
This is actually a line of thought that I have been having for some time. So I'll start out by posing a brief question, and then showing the different ways that we could answer it. The question is: Do we do good things for God, for others, for both, or for neither? How we answer this question says a lot about how we understand God and how we understand life.
If we tend to do our good things for God, then usually we try to tie up those good things in some way with proving that we are good to God. We do something nice for our neighbor, and we expect God to "reward" us, or think that we have earned some kind of points in His eyes. The reality is, there are a number of places in the Bible that we could look to support this view. We hear Jesus saying that if we give a cup of water to one of His followers, we have done it for Him. That would seem to suggest that the good we do is done for God.
At the same time, we could also say that we do good for the benefit of our neighbor, and not necessarily directly for God. After all, does God need that cup of water that we give to someone else? That hardly seems likely. Therefore, we did something good for the benefit of our neighbor. God doesn't "gain" anything from our action, and so the primary beneficiary is our neighbor.
Of course, there is always someone out there who will say that the same action of giving a cup of water is done both for God and for the neighbor. While God does not directly benefit from the cup of water, it fits in line with His desire that we love our neighbors as ourselves. It directly benefits our neighbor because it is an action of love and care, which helps to build up the community in which we live. It shares godly love with others, which is something that both God and our neighbor desire.
There are always those who will try to answer this in another way, though. They are the ones who say that God has made them right through Jesus, and that's all that matters, and so they don't "have" to do good for their neighbor. While it is true that faith in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is what makes us right with God, having security in that relationship does not excuse us from our earthly relationships with one another. This is where we don't do them directly for God, but a refusal to do them is also to live in such a way that is contrary to how God created us to live life together, which is simply another way of saying that we live in sin.
So why do you do good in life? I hope these thoughts help you think that question through and bring a little clarity into the difference between doing good for God and doing good for others.
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