season we shall reap, if we faint not.” “Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Cor.
15:58.
[Sidenote: Make No Difference.]
“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” In this we see
that the apostle speaks of temporal help, for it needs no special
exhortation to preach the Word to those who are not of the household of
faith; they are the ones to whom it is specially to be preached; but
there is a natural tendency—natural, I say, not spiritual—to limit
charities to those who are called “deserving.” We hear much about “the
worthy poor.” But we are all unworthy of the least of God’s blessings,
yet He showers them upon us continually. “If ye do good to them which do
good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And
if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for
sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your
reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for
He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”
[Sidenote: Seek the Opportunity.]
Note especially the beginning of the tenth verse. “As we have therefore
opportunity,” let us do good unto all men. Doing good to others is to be
considered a privilege to be enjoyed, and not an irksome duty to be
discharged. Men do not speak of disagreeable things as opportunities. No
one says that he had an opportunity to injure himself, or that he had an
opportunity to lose some money. On the contrary, a man will speak of an
opportunity to make some money, or to escape from some threatened
danger. It is thus that we are to consider doing good to the needy. But
opportunities are always sought for. Men are always on the lookout for
an opportunity to get gain. So the apostle teaches us that we should be
seeking opportunities to help some one. This Christ did. He “went about
doing good.” He traveled about the country on foot, searching
opportunities to do somebody some good, and He found them. He did good,
“for God was with Him.” His name is Immanuel, which means, “God with
us.” Now, as He is with us all the days, even to the end of the world,
so God is with us, doing good to us, that we also may do good. “We then,
as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the
grace of God in vain.” To this end, “receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
[Sidenote: Closing Words.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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