Day 6
To Do-ers List: Always do Good
God has a different idea.
Do good. Always do good. Instead of payback, pay-it-forward. Good for evil. Blessings replace cursing. Help instead of hate. Always do good.
Why?
Because that’s what God does; it’s who He is. It’s what He did for us. While we were yet sinners, Jesus died on the cross for us. We were enemies of God by our wicked works and He died for us. What if He had waited for us to do something GOOD until He did something good? He’d still be waiting while we spent eternity in hell.
What is good?
In the Greek, good translates as agathos, which means good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, honorable, upright, excellent. Part of the word means sacrifice. To always do good, we must
It’s part of the abundant life.
Tweet ThisThis one is hard for me. Really hard. I learned and lived by the law of the street. I can payback like the rest of ’em. It’s a wonderful witness when you convey a rude gesture and have a fish sticker on the back of your mini-van. I still struggle with it today. Why? Pride. I’m better. I act better. I think better. How dare you do that to ME. It’s ugly and sinful. But, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, I’m making progress.
Long time ago I came across the following maxim:
Satan repays good with evil;
Man repays evil with evil and good with good;
God repays evil with good.
Always do good.
It’s a choice we make … to love instead of hate, to bless instead of curse, to always do good. We were created in the image of God. Like Father, like daughter. He is good; therefore, we must always do good.
For Today:
Today will be tough. Look for ways to do good to those who aren’t good to you. Doing good to another can be a kind deed, graceful words, or prayerful thoughts. Look to do good to everyone, regardless of how they treat you. Do we always do good because others deserve it? No, we always do good because it’s the right thing to do.
Use the To-Doers List Study Guide or a journaling app to plan and journal your day.
- To Do-ers List Journal Study Guide PDF
- Days Lite: My Wonderful Life App free app from App Store.
For ideas on how to always do good, please check the resources below.
- Overcoming Evil with Good
If you missed a few days, you can catch up by clicking the links below.
To Do-ers List, Day 1: Love God
To Do-ers List, Day 2: Love Others
To Do-ers List, Day 3: Pray ’bout Everything
To Do-ers List: Day 4: Walk by Faith
To Do-ers List: Day 5: Word in Me
Please take a moment to pray and ask God for His strength to do good to everyone you meet today (and the people you live with). Don’t forget to leave a comment in the comment section below. Please remember, Jane and I have been praying for you. Have a blessed day!
by Mary Kane
Copyright 2015
all rights reserved
What inspiration to begin this beautiful Saturday morning! It has been my experience that through prayer the power of prayers for forgiveness toward the “evil-doer” is like lifting a weight off my own shoulders. I endured thirteen years of being cheated on, and both mental and physical abuse. After finally divorcing I harbored such terrible feelings toward my ex husband that it was destroying me inside. I prayed for a couple of years for the ability to let these feelings go. One day, I was praying on my way to work, suddenly it was over. Tears streamed down my face that day, and it was over. God took the I’ll feeling from me. I believe Satan wanted to destroy me internally. Nothing is more powerful than our Heavenly Father and the power of prayer. Always do good…you will be grateful and have peace.
Rhonda, thank you for sharing this very heartfelt story of God’s grace. I see from reading this, when we do good to others we benefit as well.
Rhonda,
Thank you for this heartfelt words that I know will encourage someone else today and in the days to come. Prayer is a mighty healer and praised God you prayed it through and didn’t quit. You didn’t wait to pray until your feelings lined up and you felt like it; no. Your prayers made your feelings get into line and God healed you. Amen for that great victory!
Things I have learned today:
1. There is a connection between doing good and prayer. I need to cover my doing good with prayer.
2. There is a connection between doing good and joy. Doing Good will always eventually bring me joy.
3. Doing good always requires sacrifice. I sacrifice my plans, my paybacks to do good. Sacrifice can be hard, therefore doing good can be hard.
Great lessons, Mary!! May God continue to bless and use your faithful study of His Word. 🙂
Thank you, Nancy! God is good!
This was great to read today! My favorite part is where you write that always doing good means we must “sacrifice our right to be angry, our right to be hurt, and our right to be bitter.” I think it’s really easy (at least for me) to keep hold of our hurt and bitterness because we think we have a right to feel that way. But like you said, this is living by the “eye for an eye” standard. Whatever our reason for being hurt, living like Jesus means we will try to do good instead of holding on to bitterness.
Thank you for making clear to me that hanging on to old hurts and wounds is the “eye for an eye” mentality.I am with you on this one, Elaina. I have been busy nurturing bitterness instead of planting seeds of goodness. Thanks for sharing!
If we keep those things what other people have done to us we will never heal. There will always be a thorn in our flesh. I asked The Lord to reveal things in my life where I may have done someone wrong or said something. Well one day something came to mind and I really didn’t feel like bringing that incident back up. I thought it had been forgotten. But I prayed and asked so I was burdened about what I did so I contacted that person and at first they didn’t want to talk to me. After I explained why I called it was easy because I explained how God had brought them to me and to make things right. It turned out so great and we both felt better. I praised God that day for His work in my life.
Jellene, Thank you for being very upfront and encouraging. I love your straightforward approach to life. Thank you for sharing!