Christ "went about doing good." You could almost say he went about doing his work "good", because doing good was really not his work. His work was bringing the good news and dying as our sacrifice. The good he did was a matter of course. Recently I met a young man who wanted to quit his computer job and go around giving his testimony. I asked him if he wanted to go exclusively to churches where people would be friendly and applaud him, and he said that was right. I told him that in three months he would be lying because I've heard a lot of people who stop work and start giving their testimony. Pretty soon the testimony has grown into a lie. I told him that in six months he wouldn't be worth shooting. His responsibility was to give his testimony right where he was — at work. We are to do our good while we work, not as our work. Christ didn't go about doing good when he was feeling good, nor did he go about just feeling good. I get weary of the two words we hear so much in the Christian community, "happy and excited. Everybody thinks a Christian ought to be happy and all the people raising money tell me how excited they are about what God is doing. It's only in America that we have this kind of hype and hysteria. Christ did not go around looking to do "the highest good." He just did the good that was at hand. When we are looking for the highest good it's so easy to ignore the small bits of good. It's easy to become immobilized looking for the highest good. Recently Mary Alice and I were visiting with new friends. When we asked them about the children they told us about their 22-year-old son who had graduated from college who was "looking for God's will in his life." I asked if he was working and they said no. "Is he eating?" "Yes, like a horse" was their answer. I told them to tell him that they had met one of God's prophets who said, "If you're not working you ought not be eating." The father, particularly, seemed to enjoy that prophecy.
What is a small good? Good is rarely measured in the present. For example, MacDonald, an unknown theologian in England was writing of the Christian faith that was being read by C.S. Lewis, an agnostic teacher in Oxford who became a Christian and delivered a series of lectures on BBC on Christian apologetics that became the book Mere Christianity. Tom Phillips, CEO of Raytheon read it and gave it to Chuck Colson before he went to prison which resulted in Chuck's conversion. When he came back from prison he didn't go back into law, but formed prison fellowship. Good, like evil, often has a long history, and during its unfolding we can't distinguish between the small and large parts. I ran across a story of Steve Largent that I think you'll find interesting. At six years old his father deserted the family and Steve barely saw him a dozen times. His mother married a drunk and he would come home from school with his brother to physically separate his mother and step-father to stop the fighting. He hated home and tried to stay away as much as he could. He heard about a teenager meeting where they served cookies and punch. He liked cookies and punch—particularly when it meant being away from home. It was a Young Life meeting where he found Christ and now he has four wonderful children. He no longer has to be envious when he sees a father and son for he has sons of his own and he is making his life count for Christ. I wonder if the lady who baked the cookies and fixed the punch thought she was doing a small bit of good when it was really large. She went about doing good and it changed a life.
Christ "went about doing good." As Christians we reflect His nature by doing good on the way. Let us see that good works.
