The Act of Doing Good

Now that I am out here fully exposed I might as well let it all go. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. That is a distinction of its own, but I have covered that subject in many of my essays and videos. If you are reading this and do not know what it means to be a follower of Christ then either go read a few of my essays about Christianity or go to your nearest Christian Pastor or clergyman and ask them what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. My subject matter here is the results of being a follower of Christ.

The act of doing good should be an intentional act if you are a follower of the Lord simply because it must be something that comes from the core of your being. If you have “good” living in you it will be the substance that comes out of you, no matter what the case covers. If it is in you through and through there is no way it cannot come out of you when summoned. I was recently in one of my prayer group meetings and this subject came up where it gave me complete clarity.

When you accept Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior that gives you kingdom privileges. The main one is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There is no greater privilege than having the living God of the universe living in your mortal body. It is not some third-rate god but the actual living God being present in your mortal body. Since I am speaking with the saints I do not need to plead with anyone to please believe me because that is not a statement that comes from me, it comes directly from Lord Christ. He said in John 15:26.

“I will send you the Helper from the Father, The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When He comes He will tell about me.” Another version says it this way.

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father – he will testify on my behalf.”

There are so many versions and translations of the bible written for all to read in their most common tongue or written in a way that is easily perceived. Though the words may be changed slightly to make it plainer, pick a version that speaks easily to your heart. There was a time when the most common version of the bible written for people who spoke English as their first language was the King James Version. That is no longer the case but most people who grew up with that version prefer to stay with it. I grew up in that era, but I never love the thus’s and thou’s. I wanted to hear from God as I spoke to Him. In my heart that is how it happens but in the various versions of the bible you have to find one that pleases you because the Spirit is the one that actually speaks to you through your heart where He lives.

Before I get too far from the subject matter I wanted you to know that if or when I use a version that you are not familiar with find a version that you are, if it makes that much of a difference to you. It is the Bible that I am quoting and now words or thoughts of my own. The point is that God actually lives in the ones who have accepted Christ as Lord because of the payment of the sinful debt that we all carry. To connect the dots a bit more we believe in a Triune God, which is God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some do not believe as such. Speak with the Father.

What I want you to imagine is God living in your mortal body. Again, it is not just a piece of God but the one inside you is fully God, as we understand the trinity of God. The Holy Spirit was sent to you directly from God as ordered by Christ upon completing the assignment the Father placed in His cup. When Christ said, “It is finished!” That is when we had the opportunity to become airs of His debt payment. This goes a bit deep into theology but I am not appealing to your knowledge of scripture, I am appealing to your common sense thoughts if you can imagine God living inside a person. How that is done is ordered by the Father so if you have questions about that please go into your prayer closet and ask the Father in secret and He will answer you likewise when your heart is ready to receive Him.

We know God to be Holy, pure, righteous, perfect in every way, and a host of descriptions that indicates He is only good. To connect the dots here, since God lives in the mortal body of a person who has accepted the passion of Christ, His debt payment for your sins, then the goodness and all of God’s character lives inside of you. Your next question might be the same as I had, how do you access that power? Another question of mine was, why do I still sin? Both are explainable but the answer I received was that even though I had accepted God’s presence in me, as long as I live in a carnal body of flesh, which itself is sinful, I will not be able to totally resist sin mainly because sin also lives in me, through the members of my body.

The apostle Paul speaks about this dichotomy very plainly in his letters to the Romans in Chapter 7. I speak so plainly about the law of sin that lives in you. I suggest you read the entire chapter but verses 15-17 make the point clear. I will copy it here for you.

“I don’t understand what I do. I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do. I do what I don’t want to do.  So I agree that the law is good. As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in my that does them.” NIV

Just hearing this suddenly made it clear to me that even if I try as hard as I possibly can I cannot totally avoid sin because it also lives in me just as the Holy Spirit lives in me. That statement about which wolf wins is quite appropriate. If there is a good wolf and a bad one that lives with you, the one that wins it the one you feed the most. Likewise, if we feed the Spirit that lives in us more than that sin which also lives in you the Spirit will win over your mortal body, mind, and spirit. It is up to you to feed the Spirit what it requires and do not feed the sin-nature that indwells you as well. How that is done is also covered by Paul in chapters 7 and 6 dealing with the spirit. There are many such passages, but I do not want to have you reading a bunch of scripture all at one time until you understand this one point I am attempting to make. However, if you are curious you might want to read scripture as often as possible because it has the answers to all such questions and it will be the Spirit of God that answers each of your questions that He left for us to read and study.

So here you have it. The act of doing good comes with the act of living well that comes from having the Spirit of God living in you. There should be no question regarding whether or not God lives in you because once you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior that mark has been met. It is God that does the technicalities of how it is done. Such knowledge is beyond our pay grades. Safe to say once you have accepted Christ as Lord, the rest is done for you. As typical I would like to summarize this for you.

Here is the final verdict. The act of doing good should be intentional. It should be attached to the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in your mortal body which is your Helpmate. You should also realize that sin also lives in your mortal body as well. It will always be there to challenge you. God will always be there to help you and to pick you back up once you stumble and fall. Even though you will stumble and fall from time to time, you should not make it a practice to constantly sin so God can pick you back up. God cannot be fooled by your mischievous ways, nor will He be mocked. You must remember it was God that made you in His likeness to be like Him. You don’t know even a portion about you that God knows in full. If you live a life by intentionally doing good then God will be there to cheer you on. If you are trying to fool God that is not going to happen so you might as well not try, or if you choose to live a sinful life, then you do not belong to God, as simple as that sounds. To almighty God be the glory, Selah!

P.S. – A word from the wise. I have found life much easier to manage once I have turned my life over to the Lord. There was a time when I thought I was smart enough to figure things out so I did them my way. After so many knocks, bruises, and dings I have since found the error of my ways. If you think you have the power to wrestle with sin on your own or even to wrestle with God over your immortal soul, neither will work but you might be the sort that has to find that out for yourself as I did. It is now or later but God always wins because He was the one that made this. We are fortunate and blessed that He is Lord over all the forces down here.