Jesus Came To Do Good, And Did

Posted by on December 22, 1996 under Bulletin Articles

Our initial impression of Jesus often becomes the basis of our spiritualfocus. The Lord directed Peter to Cornelius. A confused Peter finallyunderstood that he was to introduce Cornelius to Jesus. This was hisintroduction:

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God appointed him with the Holy Spiritand with power, and how he went about doing good, healing all who wereoppressed by the devil; for God was with him (Acts 10:38).

These words leap out: “…He went about doing good…, for God was withhim.” What a beautiful summation of Jesus’ ministry! Jesus went about doinggood because God was with Him. What a marvelous insight!

You and I have difficulty seeing evil. Sure, we see the evil that torturesus or that personally offends us. But, we do not see all evil in all of itsforms and presentations. Jesus did: the evil in hearts, motives, andattitudes as well as the evil in actions and human interaction. Yet, seeingall evil, He went about doing good.

Incredible! Our greatest reasons for refusing to do good arise from ourawareness of evil. Evil discourages us. It “turns us off.” It intimidatesus. It disillusions us. It makes us cynical and judgmental. It powerfullyconvinces us that it is “wrong” to do good. We find others’ evil sooffensive that we refuse to do good.

Christians who stumble and fall frustrate us. Godly people who fall prey toevil motives anger us. Evil within the church outrages us. We set otherChristians on idealistic pedestals. Then we are disgusted when they failto meet our expectations.

In all circumstances, Jesus saw evil as we are incapable of seeing it. Yet,He went about doing good.

Jesus was born to do good, lived to do good, died to do good, and He everreigns to do good. May we follow His leadership. Why? Because God is withus. Remember: the more God’s presence fills us, the more good we will do.