Good Gone Bad

An old friend and I were batting around topics for blog posts a few weeks back. I often impose on people that way, and most are happy to help. They also tend to come up with ideas I would never think of on my own. In this case, the suggestion that jumped out at me was worded as follows: “Not being weary in well doing when you are weary in well doing.”

Well, yeah.

I don’t know if it was a personal concern or just something my friend had run across in his travels, but I suspect other full-time Christian workers might be able to relate. The verse to which my friend was alluding was the apostle Paul’s instruction to Galatian believers in the last chapter of that letter, where he writes, “And let us not grow weary of doing good …”

Waitasec …

A silly question raises its midwit hand: “Why would a Christian ever get weary of doing good? Why would anyone doing something so completely in harmony with his new God-given nature need to be told to keep it up?”

It’s not a bad point, if you think about it. If you’ve known the Lord as long as I have, you’ll have likely discovered that doing favors big or small for other people is actually exceedingly gratifying, much more so than you might expect before you became a member of the household of faith. It really does make me happier to give than to receive, not least because I have too much stuff already and wouldn’t mind getting rid of some of it before it becomes a burden for my heirs, who won’t need or want any of it. If you want to feel like a sojourner in this world, a less-cluttered life is a good way to start.

All kidding aside, some of my greatest pleasures in life have involved a kind turn for somebody who genuinely needed and appreciated it. Even those acts of kindness that don’t result in torrents of grateful praise may be marked off in the “reward” column for eternity. Furthermore, if I’m very honest, I have benefited immensely from the kindness of other believers over the years. When you get a chance to return the favor, it’s like discharging a debt, and everyone loves a clear balance sheet, right?

Really, unless you are a natural sourpuss, what’s not to like about doing good? Your new nature thrives on it.

Backing Out a Bit

Usually when I find the New Testament saying something so enigmatic, I back out a little and look at the larger context. In this case, it is probably a good idea. Paul writes:

“Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

A quick glance at the verses before and after shows Paul’s instruction not to grow weary of doing good falls right in the middle of a paragraph that starts in Galatians 6:6 and ends in verse 10, which serves as a little summary of a short argument all about the same subject. The “So then” at the beginning of the last sentence is a dead giveaway. Even if we miss that, the fact that the word “good” [agathos] begins and ends the paragraph would probably do it.

If we are paying careful attention to Paul’s line of thought, it quickly becomes evident that he is not speaking about giving that nice little old lady who doesn’t drive anymore a ride to the Sunday morning meeting, or about counseling that couple in need of a little child-rearing advice, or even about snowblowing the parking lot of the church building. These are all “good” things, but they’re not what the apostle is talking about. It’s a specific kind of “good” Paul has in view, and it explains why you might find yourself getting worn to the bone doing it. The “good” he has in mind is going to cost you something, maybe quite a bit. He wants you to share “all good things” with those who teach you the word of God.

All Good Things

“All” can add up to quite a lot, and I’ve seen some Christians share things that make me blanch. One fellow years ago gave a brand new (high end) car to a Bible teacher whose ministry he greatly appreciated. The pointless flap that ensued as the local Christian Karen Brigade (male and female Karens alike) weighed in on the appropriateness of this generous gift — almost universally in the negative — Sunday after Sunday for months was horrific to behold. Full-time workers are supposed to be dirt poor, and they’d better look like it! The broo-ha-ha would make anyone weary of doing good.

“All good things” can be money, though not always. A Christian grandfather I know left a significant sum in his will to help meet the ongoing expenses of a Bible teacher and his family. Two of his grandchildren were deeply offended at the magnitude of his generosity, as if it were their money he was giving away. They were fine with Grandpa buying a speaker lunch, but add an extra “00” on the end of that check and they started fuming and fussing. Gramps was with the Lord at this point, so he was not tempted to become weary of doing good, but I almost did.

Sometimes the impulse to weary of doing good is prompted by your own children. My parents reliably shared “all good things” with anyone in need on Sunday after meeting, which usually involved putting a roast in the oven before leaving for church and carving it into as many bits as there were bodies around the table. I suppose it came out of the family food budget, but that wasn’t the real problem. As a sulky teen, I resented the intrusion of strangers at our lunch table, especially when they had children my age that I might be expected to entertain for the afternoon when I only wanted to be left alone to watch football in peace. Did my weekly flounce downstairs weary my parents of doing good? Did they second-guess themselves about whether they were doing the right thing? Possibly, but they didn’t stop. Today, I’m glad.

The Dark Side of Generosity

Nothing brings out the resentment of immature Christians more effectively than watching their peers make sacrifices, financial or otherwise, that they are not prepared to make themselves. All manner of rationalizations are concocted for singling out especially generous believers for “poor judgment”, “showing off” or “thinking they’re better than we are”. My favorite? “Why this waste?” So buzzed the indignant disciples — in the process, I should probably add, of enjoying a free lunch at a rich man’s table because of their entirely unearned association with Jesus, “This could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

Indeed it could, but it wasn’t. And — guess what? — it’s none of your business or mine.

The most generous person on earth, hearing such nonsense, is tempted to chuck it all. Who could blame him? Or her? Sometimes our fellow believers are not what they should be, and that can be genuinely discouraging when they take it out on us for doing the right thing.

Just Don’t

But don’t. Don’t get weary of doing good. Don’t care what other people think. Don’t second-guess yourself when you hear murmuring about priorities you have rightly settled before the Lord on the basis of passages like these. Just keep at it. The reward is not now, it is then. In due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

So don’t, and I promise I won’t either.