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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

GOOD...

"Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. 'And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled'."-1 Peter 3:13-14  Peter, speaking first to wives, then husbands, then to all of us. Part of Godly living is simply being good to one another. 1 Peter 3 gives a GOOD description of what it means to be good while at the same time being godly.  The last part of this verse is a quote from Isaiah 8:12.  I find it interesting that verse 13 first implies that no one will harm us if we are doing good but then tells us to consider ourselves blessed if we do. To which I respond that this is all simply GOOD.

GOOD.  While doing good in itself is part of godly living, I think we all know that even those who are not in Christ are capable of doing good. But as Christians, it is especially crucial for us to do good.  Seems pretty obvious doesn't it? Be a Christian, do good.

GOOD.  Doing good as a Christian is not as obvious as it might seem. The Bible is littered with evidence that this is what we need to do yet this is an area where we sometimes fail.

GOOD. Right before writing this I spoke to my best friend and brother in Christ and he gave me some insight to a situation I am dealing with.  He reminded me not to react as the world reacts despite the difficulty of the situation given the other person involved is a family member in Christ.

GOOD.  So what does this mean? Well in the context of 1 Peter 3, we see some examples of what it means to do good. In 1 Peter 3:8 we find that we ought to be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit. Easy enough right? When people are doing to us, of course it's easy.

GOOD. What I just mentioned is easy when others are good to us but notice 1 Peter 3:9, in doing this we are not to return evil for evil or insult for insult but giving a blessing instead. This is easy too right?

GOOD. Of course it's not easy to react with good when we are being insulted.  What makes it especially difficult is when said insults come from our own brethren.

GOOD.  Doing good sometimes means taking what people might say to you with a grain of salt and doing good to them even when they might not be treating you right.  However, there are times when we also must take a stand.

GOOD. So my encouragement to you tonight is this, next time someone says something to you that doesn't exactly set right with you, step back and ask yourself if the battle is worth it and then try to offer a blessing or do good to that person rather than returning evil for evil or insult for insult. This could go a long way in your relationship with that person.

DO GOOD! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!  

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