Do You Will to Do Good?

Do You Will to Do Good?

“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.” Rom. 7:21.

Most people find that evil is present with the others, and so they are critical and bitter, and they backbite. They do not have the will to do good; they would rather that the others did the good. They are busy with the others and what the others should do instead of with what they themselves should do—which is doing the good.

There is no sanctification or development in occupying yourself with the evil that others do. I can partake of sanctification and growth only by being occupied with doing good myself. Then I will find the evil present with me, and I will have an opportunity to deny and purify myself. Then working out my salvation with fear and trembling becomes purposeful (Phil. 2:12), and I do not fight as one who beats the air or runs with uncertainty. 1 Cor. 9:26. Only by saving myself can I save those who hear me. 1 Tim. 4:16.

Let us consider our body. How many members does my right hand have to deal with? It has to deal with only the head. If it is to do anything together with the left hand, and the left hand is crippled, it has no business complaining or being dissatisfied with the left hand. The head does not effect anything in the right hand except to do good. The more the left hand is injured, the more capable the right hand becomes. This is what the head works—the only member of the body with which the right hand has to deal.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom. 12:21.

“The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” 1 John 5:19. That is why we have to suffer much evil, but “we know that we are of God.” If we are overcome by evil, we also become evil; then we have been overcome by the world. But we are of God, and He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4. Therefore we have this exhortation: “Overcome evil with good”!

The fact that I will to do good proves that I am of God. How the others behave or what the circumstances are does not change the fact that I will to do the good. As a member of the body of Christ I have to deal with only One, and only good impulses proceed from Him. The more difficult a situation becomes, the more capable I become of doing good. Then I who will to do the good get the very opportunities I need in order to exercise myself. But then I will discover the evil that is present with me. I get something to work with, something from which to cleanse myself, and I have nothing to complain about. On the contrary, now I have an opportunity to help and to bless. I who will to do the good am in God, and I am not overcome by evil. Moreover, I have abundant opportunity to work out my own salvation so I can have a spiritual development and can sit with Jesus on His throne, as Jesus also overcame and sat down with His Father on His throne. Rev. 3:21.