DOES GOOD=GOOD?

I wasn’t sure I entirely agreed with this décor sign for sale at my local crafts store:

Do good and good will come to you.

I remembered the similar thought in Proverbs 16:7: When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies to live at peace with him.

One of my former pastors used that verse when preaching from Genesis 33 about the feud between Jacob and Esau. After many years in exile, Jacob had come home and was about to have a dreaded reunion with his twin, Esau, whom he had deceived out of the birthright. The meeting could result in his and his family’s deaths or enslavement. It could have been a rated “R” Hollywood moment with lots of violence. But they met amicably. Enemies at peace.

Few of us will face such a tense moment, but I’ve had my unwanted share of encounters with angry people. Proverbs 16:7 is generally true, but not always. I try to be a person of peace—to do good. But I’ve nursed wounds from emotionally broken people.That’s why I’m glad the apostle Peter wrote such practical letters to new churches. They, too, needed advice on getting along in an angry world. In sharing the wisdom he learned at the feet of Jesus, Peter addressed living with grace.

Good people suffer hard times, Peter wrote, “so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7). In other words, the end of the story hasn’t been published yet. Plus, he adds, persecution should prompt some self-examination: “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (2:1). It’s all part of the process of being made fit for God’s kingdom. And even when I’ve examined my heart, sought to make peace with those who oppose me, but am discouraged by their ongoing negatives—I need to remember Christ’s sufferings. The end of the story isn’t yet written.

That comforts me in my interactions with difficult people. I may do good and not get “good” in return. But coals can become diamonds, and Christ-honoring actions won’t go unrewarded. Thus Peter reminded these Christians (and me!) to keep trying to “do good”—to live as representing Christ—so that people “may see your good works and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 4:12b).

Which is another, fuller, way of saying, don’t expect instant, wonderful results to your “good works.” It’s not a matter of being good so good can come to you. Rather, it’s walking with Christ in faith, doing “good” in reflecting His character, and trusting Him in this journey to eternity.

Think tank: "of good report"

With hedge-like foliage and less-dense blossoms, these "bush roses"
provide a boundary for the front of our yard, hopefully adding
to a "good report" impression of the people living here!

A series on Philippians 4:8.
Ah—words from the past, back to my childhood. Who said them to me, I can’t remember, but I can still hear the haughty tone in which the youthful speaker delivered them:  “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all!”  Words have the power to lift or to wound, and children are especially adept at the wounding skills. The apostle Paul certainly experienced “wounding.” In listing the good, bad and ugly he’d been subjected to as a Christian leader, he said he’d been target of “bad report and good report” (2 Corinthians 6:8).

I wonder if he had those reports in mind when he penned his list of things to think about, and included “whatever is of good report.” The original Greek word is euphemos, from which  we get our English word “euphemism,” defined as “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.”  You’ve probably heard the witty story of a family that hired a writer to put together a family history.  They didn’t know what to do with a black sheep family member who was electrocuted after being convicted of murder.  So this is what the writer came up with: “He occupied the chair of applied electricity at one of this nation’s well-known institutions. He was committed to his position and literally died in the harness.”

Okay, done with jokes.  The Bible’s euphemos has a more positive spin, referring to “words or sounds of good omen.”   The “sounds” may refer to non-verbal ways, like grunts or sighs, to indicate agreement. 

I find each of Paul’s “think on these things” challenging. But this one really ties together the thought-life and the mouth-life. When I run against something negative, can I hand it over to God for help in finding that kernel of “good report”?

About thirty-five years ago I went through a discouraging, negative situation. I was unemployed, grieving, and working as hard as I could to empty out my parents’ home after their deaths so it could be sold. One day a former colleague called, asking me to do a special writing assignment for her publication. I was so discouraged and doubtful of my abilities that I tried to turn her down.  She wouldn’t accept my “no.”  Wisely, she knew accomplishing something outside my negatives would be helpful in my long journey to wellness.  “I have a Bible verse for you,” she said.  I could almost see this short, intense older woman standing hands-on-hips with a finger wagging at me. “It’s Nehemiah 8:20, ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength.’”  I accepted her rebuke, and the assignment, and it turned out a good thing for me to do. She turned my “bad report” (of my emotional state) to a “good report” of hope for how the Lord would help stretch me and heal me.

Turning “bad reports” into “good reports” is a lifelong learning process.  It helps to keep eternity’s purposes in mind.  Jonathan Edwards, the famed Puritan preacher, had a list of “resolutions” he followed, and one was this: “Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.” Our ability to faithfully share “good reports” that glorify Christ  will impact others long after we’re gone.

Next: "virtue"