It is a measure of our sinfulness that we think doing good works is something special. It’s not. For a Christian, good works are just what we do. Or, to put it in the form of a Geico commercial:
If you’re a Christian, you practice good works.
It’s what you do.
If you want to save 15% or more on car insurance, you switch to Geico.
It’s what you do.
(By the way, I actually did save 15% and more on my car insurance when I switched to Geico. But I digress.)
“You’re a good man, Herb Reese!”? my neighbor Jim, out walking his dog, shouted as I and my lawnmower rattled past him.
I had just finished mowing a widow’s lawn a few doors up from me. I’ve been doing this for the past three years. Everyone on the block knows she would gladly let her front lawn turn into a campus extension of the Amazon Jungle if given the chance. So to keep the peace and maintain our property values, I’ve volunteered to be her yard guy.
Now what would you say to someone who called you “good” like Jim did me? Like myself, you’d probably be tempted to say, “Thank you,” because you knew you were doing something that was perceived to be out of the ordinary and you were being given a compliment for it. On the other hand, you know that no one is good. Jesus himself said so. Fortunately, Jesus taught a? parable on how to respond to this very situation. Here it is:
?Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ?Come immediately and sit down to eat?? ?But will he not say to him, ?Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink?? ?He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? ?So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ?We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.?? (Luke 17:7-10, NIV)
And that’s how I responded to my neighbor.
“I’m just doing what I’m supposed to be doing, Jim,” I said.
So how did Jim respond back? He was caught completely off guard. “Well…Ahh…Er…You know, I should be doing the same thing you are!” he blurted out.
So when you practice good works, know this: sooner or later someone is going to call you good. But as a Christian, good works are nothing special.
They’re just what we do.
Has anyone ever called you “good?” If so, how did you respond?
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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