Why persist in doing good?
Why persist in doing good?
Take a moment to read through these few verses in Romans 2:1-16
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”[a] 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”
I want to highlight on verse 7-
"To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life."
I love the definition of the verb persist-
1: to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning
2: to remain unchanged or fixed in a specified character, condition, or position
3: to be insistent in the repetition or pressing of an utterance (such as a question or an opinion)
4: to continue to exist especially past a usual, expected, or normal time
I make it a point to reflect on the character of Jesus when studying any portion of scripture. If what I'm reading doesn't coincide with what Christ taught and exemplified than I am hesitant to believe it to be true. But as we know and are well aware of - Jesus went around doing good. In Acts 10:38 we are reminded of this.
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
The passage from Romans 2 is showing us how God does not show favoritism. He has standards that must be met in order to please him. His instruction is clear. He shows us what will happen when we judge people for the same thing we are guilty of doing. We learn what will happen if we are doing good and/or what will happen if we are doing evil. We will all be ultimately judged by Jesus for our hidden thoughts and motives and what we've done here on earth with our lives.
But what I love in this passage is a hidden gem in verse 7:
"To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life."
"To those who by persistence in doing good"…what does that look like? I've taken the liberty of transforming the merriam webster definition of persistance combined with the thoughts running through my mind into a motivational poem ---- please take time to read this to yourself, read it out loud a few times for it to sink in.
Persist in doing good
Be stubborn in doing good
In spite of opposition do good
In spite of importunity do good
In spite of warning do good
Remain doing good
Be fixed on doing good
Make it your character to do good
Condition yourself to do good
Position yourself to do good
Insist on repeatedly doing good
Exist for doing good
Keep doing good when everyone expects you to stop doing good when the occasion calls for the opposite of doing good
When you’ve been wronged, mistreated, when justice hasn’t yet prevailed, do good.
These things will follow while you are persistently doing good:
Glory
Honor
Immortality
As we reflect on Christ, he definitely did good in all circumstances and we are called to be like him. By doing so we will also receive the promise of glory, honor, and immortality. Jesus received that as God’s son, and we can receive that as God’s children and heirs with Christ.
How are we to get glory and honor? Some would think only God gets glory and honor. And yes he does. But His word tells us to seek glory and honor, not in a self-seeking way but from a pure heart, as we are created in His image. Read what the psalmist says about man (the human race).
"What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him? Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet: [I Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:22, 23; Heb. 2:6-8.]"
Psalm 8:4-6
God has crowned us with glory and honor and our behavior should reflect that.
By doing good continually our glory and honor will be made evident.
Read Proverbs chapter 15 when you get a moment- there is a sharp contrast between the righteous and the wicked. The last verse in that chapter states-
"The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom,
And before honor comes humility."
Proverbs 15:33
For honor to follow us- we must be again #1 - persistent in doing good and be humble… Humility always comes before honor. We will not receive honor if we are doing good and then expecting a big shout out, a trophy, or our name announced from the pulpit.
Stay humble as you seek after God and are doing good works for Him.
Stay humble as you seek after God and are doing good works for Him.
So a quick recap -
Do good
Do good
Be humble
And seek immortality - seek eternal life with Christ by obeying His words.
Read Colossians 3 about putting on the new self -
"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."
Colossians 3:1-4
“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Some of this will happen here on Earth as we are doing good we will receive glory and honor, some will happen when Christ is revealed.
As we are persistent in doing good, glory and honor, and ultimately immortality will follow us……as we submit to Christ in all humility we will be rewarded and we can expect it and accept it according to His word.
Just like Jesus though we should give all glory and honor to God that we do receive. Because it is by Him and through Him that we are like Him, because of the Holy Spirit in us that is how we can even do the good He wants us to do. We can praise God because He has changed us from the inside out and we are blessed to good because of Spirit in us making that evident.
So how do we get these blessings…
By persistently doing good!
Remember
Persist in doing good
Be stubborn in doing good
In spite of opposition do good
In spite of importunity do good
In spite of warning do good
Remain doing good
Be fixed on doing good
Make it your character to do good
Condition yourself to do good
Position yourself to do good
Insist on repeatedly doing good
Exist for doing good
Keep doing good when everyone expects you to stop doing good when the occasion calls for the opposite of doing good
When you’ve been wronged, mistreated, when justice hasn’t yet prevailed, do good.
These things will follow while you are persistently doing good:
Glory
Honor
Immortality
Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love how your worded ~ "The passage from Romans 2 is showing us how God does not show favoritism. He has standards that must be met in order to please him. His instruction is clear."
So often that verse is used in regards to what we are going to GET from God, rarely have i understood it as what we are required to do, and this is a wonderful point and challenge.
Thank you for sharing that! -S
DeleteThank you for this reflection!
ReplyDeleteSo often, one will persist in doing good when they can receive recognition... it's a mindset that states "How am I benefited? Will I receive recognition?" Other worse mindsets even within the church persist with, "Can people see me doing this and how 'holy' I am?" But as you stated, "Humility always comes before honor. We will not receive honor if we are doing good and then expecting a big shout out, a trophy, or our name announced from the pulpit."
What a great reminder of the necessity of honest, sincere humility!
Truly, we should be taking whatever opportunities are present to do good. Even to the point of converting awkward and uncomfortable situations into ones that God can be glorified by His light shining through us in our good works.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your GOOD WORKS, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" --Matthew 5:16 KJV
(----sorry for the really long post!)
Please don't apologize, I was blessed to read your comment. Thank you for posting!
Delete