Whoever seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.
There is a song that plays on Christian radio right now which says: "Why does kindness seem revolutionary? When did we make hate seem so ordinary?". It appears that doing good is looked upon as something strange and crazy until it is personally experienced. I have seen this on my own.
There was a time when I used to be vengeful and tried to get even with everyone. Then I realized one thing: it is impossible to extinguish fire with fire. In order for the fire to go out, it needs water; and depending on how big the fire is, it may take a lot of water. James 3:1-12 talks about the effects of the tongue and how it can do a lot of good or damage. Many times we say things out of instinct,
just because we heard other people say it, and we don't give it a lot of thought as to what it means. Also, we do certain things because we learned from others before us to act or react in certain ways, and rarely-- if ever-- we give our actions a lot of thought.
Long story short, we do and say things which could be hurtful without even knowing it. To make things even worse, we consider our actions and reactions normal, and we only recognize the more damaging ones as dangerous, until we get used to them as well. Then, at one point-- the sooner, the better-- we take a few steps back and look at the damage and want to break this vicious circle.
Today's passage says that the one who seems good will find favor. First, he finds favor in the eyes of God. It is impossible to do good and not experience the changes this brings, because the only one who is good is God, and everything that is good comes from Him. Then, whoever does good finds favor in the eyes of people. When our actions and reactions are good, they will surprise those surrounding us, and as far as our world is concerned, it will definitely change. And change will keep happening as those in our world make an impact in theirs. This glorifies God and shows the world that we are His children. So, let's do good, regardless of how strange or crazy it seems.
There is a song that plays on Christian radio right now which says: "Why does kindness seem revolutionary? When did we make hate seem so ordinary?". It appears that doing good is looked upon as something strange and crazy until it is personally experienced. I have seen this on my own.
There was a time when I used to be vengeful and tried to get even with everyone. Then I realized one thing: it is impossible to extinguish fire with fire. In order for the fire to go out, it needs water; and depending on how big the fire is, it may take a lot of water. James 3:1-12 talks about the effects of the tongue and how it can do a lot of good or damage. Many times we say things out of instinct,
just because we heard other people say it, and we don't give it a lot of thought as to what it means. Also, we do certain things because we learned from others before us to act or react in certain ways, and rarely-- if ever-- we give our actions a lot of thought.
Long story short, we do and say things which could be hurtful without even knowing it. To make things even worse, we consider our actions and reactions normal, and we only recognize the more damaging ones as dangerous, until we get used to them as well. Then, at one point-- the sooner, the better-- we take a few steps back and look at the damage and want to break this vicious circle.
Today's passage says that the one who seems good will find favor. First, he finds favor in the eyes of God. It is impossible to do good and not experience the changes this brings, because the only one who is good is God, and everything that is good comes from Him. Then, whoever does good finds favor in the eyes of people. When our actions and reactions are good, they will surprise those surrounding us, and as far as our world is concerned, it will definitely change. And change will keep happening as those in our world make an impact in theirs. This glorifies God and shows the world that we are His children. So, let's do good, regardless of how strange or crazy it seems.
