On Doing Good
“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.” John Wesley
“And don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.” (Hebrews 13:16).
This seems to be one of those “mud on the wall” ideas. There is a lot of mud and a lot of wall. Throw enough and some will stick. There is a lot of good that can be done in a lot of places. And, it doesn’t seem to be really specific on how much and where. It is gleefully vague. It is blissfully broad. The assumption is simply “find opportunity for good and do it.” Don’t spend the whole day trying to strategize the good. Just spontaneously do it.
Sometimes my missional mind wants to be very targeted in what I do and how I do it. But, Wesley and the Word seem to suggest we should just get cracking on some of it. Paint with a broad brush. Find a goodness gap and fill it. Help a brother out. And, if we saturate the world in which we live with goodness, in the end it may look to some like sacrifice even though it doesn’t seem that way in the beginning.