This is your Brain on Juan

The Greek playwright, Sophocles once wrote, “To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task.” Sophocles is alright, but I am more of a Willy Wonka man myself. In the movie Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Wonka commented on young Charlie’s actions by saying, “So shines a good deed in a weary world”. I’m speaking of the 1971 version with Gene Wilder, not the remake with the creepier character portrayed by Johnny Depp.

Many times, we as Christians get sidetracked with “culture wars”. We can get stuck in just taking a stand against what is wrong in society, rather than doing what is right and good. This is what most people think of as religion: lists of do’s and don’ts, mostly don’ts. Our human efforts at this lean towards legalism that is void of any connection with God’s heart. We can easily forget what we are here to actually do.

Popular conference speaker and author Graham Cooke puts it this way,

“What if the biggest problem in America is not drugs, or pornography, or abortion, or poverty, or low education, or terrorism, or crime? What if the biggest problem in America is simply the lack of goodness? The Bible says we overcome evil with good, so why are we building more prisons than hospitals? Why are there “no go” areas in our major cities? Why do the police have to walk around in combat dress all the time? Why are certain areas of our culture and our society rabidly out of control? I think it’s because the church does not understand who she is, and she is so busy railing against sin, which is not our job. Our job is to bring down the goodness of God into the earth.”

Jesus backed up his preaching and lessons with action. His deeds were a living embodiment of what he taught. There was no difference between what he believed, taught and practiced.

There were times in the Bible when spiritual leaders took a tough public stand against what was wrong. For example, John the Baptist publicly pointed out Herod’s sin of marrying his brother’s wife. That got him beheaded. Jesus himself called the Jewish leaders snakes and hypocrites for their proud, manipulative behavior and that led to the cross. If we choose to take this route, we had better have a direct mandate from God to speak and be prepared for the potential consequences. The trend is that prophets usually get killed, because the accused shoot the messengers. If we take a hard stand, we also must be sure that our attitude is one of “loving our enemies” and “blessing those who curse us.” Easier said than done.

You may have heard the phrase that, “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” It is much easier for people to receive the good news, when they can see tangible proof through our actions that this news really is good.

When we treat people like gold, they stop feeling like garbage.

Jesus teaches this approach in Matthew 5:16,

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Whenever it says to do good deeds, the obvious question is “What kinds of good deeds?” Here are just three that God mentions through the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 58:7

1. Share food with the hungry

2. Provide the poor wanderer with shelter

3. Clothe the naked

How much more do you think people will be prepared to believe in Jesus after you do these kinds of things for them? If you do the works of Jesus, you will instantly win respect. It is the natural response from honoring others and treating them with dignity. This is the strategy that we use on the 12 weekly outreaches to homeless friends that we operate with The Relief Buses.

When we treat people like gold, they stop feeling like garbage. Most people already feel lousy about themselves and wish they could be a better mother, father, son, daughter, spouse, friend or person. New York City Relief Senior Outreach Leader Brett Hartford (below with outreach team and friend) describes it this way,

“I am convinced that we would all be a lot happier, more joyful, have more confidence in ourselves, and generally just like each other more if we took the time to remind each other WHO we are.

“There is so much negative reinforcement all around. People telling us that we aren’t good enough, not pretty, intelligent, driven, useful, fill in the blank…

“Tonight, during an outreach on foot that we do every week called Don’t Walk By, I had the opportunity to look a woman in the eye who is challenged with homelessness and start erasing all of that junk.

“I said, ‘You are beautiful. You are capable of doing it. You are not a failure. Your life is not over. You are not invisible. You can do it. You are lovable. God has not forgotten about you. He doesn’t think you’re worthless. He loves you. I love you.’

“Tears flowed. A crack in the hard shell that is used for protection.

“For women living on the streets, my heart breaks. How can I make them feel beautiful, cherished, and valued like God is trying to express to them every day by way of birds chirping, flowers rising out of the ground, and air in their lungs???

“Words. Eye contact. Hugs. Action.

“I told her words. I affirmed who she is, and not the junk of her past.

“I looked her in the eyes-straight into who she is, not what she looks like or smells like, but deep into her soul.

“I asked her if she would like a hug. She said yes.

“She didn’t just want a hug from me, but she asked for a hug from everybody on our team that night.

“Now we need to take more action. She needs resources. She needs knee surgery. She needs a place to lay her head at night that’s not a sidewalk or a guy’s bed who’s taking advantage of her.

“I invited her to come to The Relief Bus the next day for an appointment that we call a Life Care Visit. I told her we would love to sit down with her and figure out what she has tried, what her options look like, walk alongside of her and support her along the way.

“She is beautiful. I know it, now it’s time to start getting her to believe that as well.

“How can we do that better ourselves? Look for the beauty in each other. Look for the good stuff, and call it out. Love your neighbor.”

Brett is doing the first part of the verse in Isaiah 58:7-taking care of this woman’s physical needs. The results are described in verse 10:

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,

It is what we DO by “spending ourselves” that allows God’s light to shine in the darkness so that the world can finally see who he really is and who they really are. “So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

 

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