One of the central points of contention in the church of the 1500’s was whether or not we could rely on good works to get us into heaven. I have always maintained that Martin Luther was really talking about being enslaved by the laws of the Hebrew Scriptures that kept us from living faithfully, and not the actual doing of acts of kindness and mercy. There is much truth in the idea that we can’t buy our way into heaven – being part of the kingdom of God is not a race or a contest of some kind. Still, Jesus, and to a lesser extent, the Apostle Paul, both taught that doing good for others was a necessary outcome of having faith. The writer of James put it succinctly: Faith without works is dead.
We all know people who seem to live their lives for doing good. They are also the people who, in conversations, have told me that they feel like they can never do enough. In a way, they are enslaved by their fear of not being good enough or faithful enough. I remember one conversation with a veritable saint at my church that led me to say to her that if she, among all the people I have ever known, did not make it into heaven, nobody would. She actually blushed! I went on to say that I have no idea if there are any criteria for salvation, so my take on it is to live today as if it is my last day, refraining from evil and doing good when opportunities arise. I have always thought that it is our responsibility to make the world a better place than we found it, and we can do that at work, at play, and every time in between.
The people I worry about are the ones who think they have a place with God and therefore don’t have to do anything for anyone else. It is at the core of fake prosperity religion. They think that if they love their family, don’t do harm, and are successful financially, that they are all good with God. Jesus had an answer to that point of view, and He taught about it regularly. In Matthew 5 He said that loving those who love you isn’t anything special – even bad people do that. For Jesus, producing good fruits, and not bad ones, was a necessity for someone claiming faith. Giving without expecting anything in return – feeding those who can’t pay your back – loving those who are your enemies. Not the cheap grace of much of what passes for faith – also, not all that hard to do. Do something good for someone you don’t know today and see how it feels. I bet it will put a smile on your face for the rest of the day. And you will have helped someone.
Prayer – Help us, God, to help others – there is a lot of need that we can help with. Amen.