Doing Good Deeds

Yeah I know..."Doing Good Deeds" is such a simplistic topic...most people wont even give it a second read...but I encourage you to read on as I feel that there will be something valuable for everyone in this piece...I know you might think that there are more interesting things to do such as play Facebook...but give it a chance...and if you still dont like it after you finish reading...well bad luck =P

When we give our lives to Christ, we are transformed, we are a new being. Through this transformation we become more Christ-like and take on his characteristics...which include doing good unto others. While I trust that you all would at some point do good deeds for others in different forms, but what heart do you do it with? What about when you are in a bad mood and things arent going well for you? Do you still feel the passion to do good deeds for others?

God has a purpose for our lives, this is something I have talked about in the past. We are called to walk with Him, but this is not the extent of our calling. It is not God's desire that we spend our time within the walls of the church, but instead its His purpose that we also work with Him! When we bring the two elements of WALKING and WORKING together, its then that our lives begin to get exciting. This is evident in Matthew 4:19 where Jesus calls Simon Peter to follow Him -

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

He didnt just tell Peter to walk with him, but rather He called Peter to be a worker for the Kingdom of God.

Another piece of scripture which I really like on this topic is 1 Peter 2:9-15 - 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

One of the key things that always stands out to me when reading this is the point that we the chosen people and a people belonging to God! How awesome is that...we are the chosen people! Therefore despite the battles and negative influences we face in our daily lives, we are encouraged to continue doing good deeds which ultimately glorify God.

So we know that we were created for a purpose, which is to do good things, sowing seeds for the kingdom of God in the world.

One of the other encouraging elements of this is that doing good deeds is for anyone who has a heart who wants to make a difference. When Jesus came down from Heaven, He made a difference in this world, and as we are continually transformed in character to be more and more like Christ, we too need to possess a heart that desires to make a difference in this fallen world! God has given us the skills and spiritual gifts which are going to make a difference in the lives of others around us, and it is when we are out there making a difference that the world will know that we care from our works and actions. For we must remember that nothing we do for the Lord is ever pointless, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:58 -

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Another example from the Bible that always held significant meaning for me was Acts 3:1-10 where it tells of when Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar. Peter were just going about their everyday, normal life, when they were confronted with the opportunity to do a good deed, to make a difference in the world.

One of the reservations people can have when it comes to doing good deeds is the feeling that it will cost too much. It is true that good deeds will cost something, but they will not cost us everything. For God is only asking that we give back what we have received from Him. We are not called to give everything up, just as it states in 1 Corinthians 16:2 -

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

It is true that times we will feel overwhelmed thinking that we cannot meet all the needs around us, but God doesn't call us to meet every need, but instead just what we are capable of.

Going back to the example earlier from Acts 3, Peter and John didn't feel overwhelmed when they were confronted by the crippled beggar. They didn't have gold or silver to give him. But they gave him what he was truly in need of, they gave him faith, an encounter with God, a supernatural change in his life! They had something in their lives which the beggar needed.

Sometimes we need to stop and think about - what do we have in our lives that we can sow into someone else life?

Finally, good deeds start right where we are today! Some people automatically relate doing good deeds with going far away on mission. But great works begin at home,  a perfect example is Bridge Church reaching out to the local public housing estate. Opportunities to do good deeds exist right where we are now, in our everyday lives. But the important thing is we recognize these opportunities when they come. This highlights the significance of being sensitive to when the Lord speaks to us, prompting us in our situations.  The Holy Spirit will prompt us, the Holy Spirit wants to give us the opportunities to demonstrate the goodness of God in our everyday lives, in practical circumstances as we walk open to God.

Therefore we just need to identify the needs before us and do what we can, they may not be major events, but they are all significant before God. This is very evident in one of the most popular events in the Bible, the feeding of the 5000. It can be read in John 6:1-14, where we see Jesus feeds 5000 with very little. Many times we only focus on the great miracle that Jesus performed, but we neglect to identify one important element. It was a small boy playing His small part that ultimately led to this great miracle. A small thing was turned into such a big thing. A good deed was turned into a God deed. Our good deeds, our good works, it is when we play our small part that we realise we are all part of Gods great BIG plan!

It starts with ordinary people doing ordinary things, God, an extraordinary God turns it into an amazing thing!

Every good work done in faith will have a supernatural result!

Always remember that when you are serving, its all for God's glory. Always give God the praise, for we have nothing except from our Lord and Savior.