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I was reading the Psalm 34:14 (ESV) today that says “turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” and had a revelation that made me use a sarcastic laugh. There are many times in today’s society when seeking good does the exact opposite of the psalmist’s words. You might have to call the police on a neighbor that’s abusing their children. You might have to physically step in to break up a fight. You might have to stand in front of your state’s senator and tell him that you’re not going to be silent about a new piece of legislation that infringes on religious freedom or makes the state impose their amoral values upon Christians. Sometimes you just can’t all get along.
We’re even told those times are going to arrive when in 1 Peter 3:17 (ESV) it reads “for it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” The idea that we’re going to suffer for doing the right thing is unfortunately something a Christian should just take in stride. We’re going to have the times of hardship, trial, stress and anxiety. We’re going to have people get angry with us and physically attack us or destroy our “stuff” because we stood up and did the right thing. We cannot always seek peace if we’re to do God’s will on this earth and as a result we will suffer consequences.
However, God will never leave us and he will not ignore the suffering we do for Him and for good. 1 Peter 2:20 (ESV) tells us “if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” Couple that with Galatians 6:9 (ESV) “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” and you see that God has promised us we will receive his grace and reap a harvest if we focus on good and stick to the relentless pursuit of good.
A guiding verse for us as believers has to be 1 John 3:17 (ESV): “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” I know that many people take that verse to mean “goods” in terms of material possessions but I see goods as more than physical items. I see “goods” to mean the very words of Christ and the truth of the Gospel and the definition of good: if we see a brother in need because he’s being falsely accused and we have possession of the truth to free him we cannot remain silent. If we see a child being abused by a parent and we have the proof necessary for the police to step in and save that child then we have to make that phone call. Evidence…proof of truth…is something that is good to the world and therefore something that we cannot keep to ourselves.
So while I know it’s tempting to just only follow 2 Corinthians 13:11 (ESV) that reads “Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” and ignore every situation that could cause conflict we have to realize the Bible never called us to silence. Even that passage in 2 Corinthians says “AIM for…” We can strive for peace with everyone and strive for a situation where we’re all in agreement but it doesn’t mean that we’re going to find it. Sometimes you have to stand and say “no, we can’t just all get along.”
