ON BEING WHILE DOING

          Doing things in the name of the Lord for others is important.  Faith without works is both useless and dead (Js.2:20 & 26).  We are to be doers of the Word (Js.1:22).  Jesus provides the ultimate example of this - - He went about doing good (Acts 10:38).  Being the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and the fragrance of Christ is not just about doing.  If we’re to be both affective and effective, doing must be accompanied by being.  The work of the church requires a lot of DOING, but, first and foremost, it necessitates BEING.  That old aphorism rings true - - people don’t care how much you know, until they see how much you care!  Thus, our doing must be wedded to goodness, righteousness and truth (Eph.5:8) by ones who are striving to be blameless, innocent and above reproach (Philp.2:14f).  Good deeds done by Christ-ones paves the way for the sharing of the gospel.  Our deeds are done before a watching world and we must not provide them with any ammunition to accuse us of duplicity or hypocrisy.

          Stanley Jones once labored as a missionary in India.  Supposedly he once met with Mahatma Gandhi and asked him:  “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to adamantly reject becoming His follower?”  Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject Christ.  I love Christ.  “IT’S JUST THAT SO MANY OF YOU CHRISTIANS ARE SO UNLIKE CHRIST.”   Perhaps the saddest and most disturbing passage in the  en-tire New Testament contains words spoken by Jesus concerning the Jewish scribes and Pharisees.  These religious leaders - - ones who should have shined so brightly for the things of God; ones who should have been salt and light, had become odious and repulsive.  Jesus said to the multitude and to His disciples:  do not do according to their deeds, for they say things and do not do them (Mt.23:1f).

                                                                                     Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ