A child says to his father, “I want some money to buy you a gift.” The father gives the child $20 and says, “I do not want you to spend more than $15. Bring me the change.” The boy goes out shopping and finds a sweater for his dad. The sweater is on sale for $19, but is regularly priced at $34. When the child gets home, he excitedly tells his father, “I saved $15 on your gift.” This simple illustration shows how easy it is to do something good, although it may not necessarily be right. Saving $15 on a gift is good; spending more than $15 is wrong (in this situation). Those of us who believe that our eternal salvation is based on our faith have a tendency to disregard our works: that which we do.

The Apostle Paul famously discusses this in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 6:1, 15 — What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

It can be concluded that since we are under grace — we have already been forgiven — we maybe should not worry about sinning. Paul adamantly dismisses this silly logic. We typically agree: “I know I am saved; I cannot lose my salvation; I should still refrain from sinning.” But what about that which we DO? If we are not doing wrong, does that mean that we are doing good? No.

I have been convicted of late of the apathy that surrounds those (myself included) who claim to believe in Jesus. It is relatively easy to live a life under grace. We casually relax on that amazing concept. We strive to not sin. We mess up on occasion, but we can convince ourselves that we are generally good. A quick study in church history or even reading through the New Testament (the letters to the churches in Revelation, for example) will show that this apathy is a consistent trend. That does not make it OK.

What is the solution to the problem of apathy? Is this apathy simply inactivity? If so, then the answer is obvious: do something. Do something good.

Galatians 6:10 — So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

This verse, and the surrounding passage, has been a place for me to camp out for a while. I see this phrase as the ultimate definition of Paul’s understanding of the balance of works and faith. We do not do good things to become right with God, nor do we do them to remain right with God. We do good things because it is the godly thing to do. The works of good that we do are actually God’s work through us.

It should be noted that the word “do” above is written in the present tense signifying a continual action. This is not something we do once or on occasion. We are to do good constantly. A less-concise translation of this verse may be, “let us effectively bring about an environment of goodness to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” What part do you play in bringing about an environment of goodness to those around you?

Note, also, that Paul focuses on the “household of faith” which refers to our community of believers. We are to bring about this environment of goodness to all, but primarily to our own family in Christ.

Please do not be apathetic. Please do not take comfort in the fact that you are under grace and generally do not sin. Take action and do good. This should be hard, incessant work. We do not work to get right with God; we already are. We do it because we strive to be like Him. Let us bring about an environment of goodness to everyone.

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This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 8:32 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.