You're Being Noticed!

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart.  - Alexander Solzhenitsyn 

There is within us all an inborn desire to be acceptable, to look good. For some, it’s more about looking good than it is about doing good, much less being good. This was the long, flowing robe the Pharisees tripped over.

Jesus was there in the midst of them, doing good. He healed a man with a ‘withered,’ useless hand... in the temple…on the Sabbath. Maybe it’s the questions he asks. “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath?” 

They were silent. “After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, He told the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored” (Mark 3:5 HCSB). Something snapped beneath their phylacteries. “At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus” (verse 6 NLT).

What was so bad about doing good? What made them so angry that they wanted to kill Him? Only one thing: He made them look bad. Maybe He wasn’t trying to make them look bad, but He wasn’t going to stop doing good to make them look good. He went right on continuing to do good.

Have you noticed that while you’re concentrating on doing good, others are trying to make you look bad? It’s downright… hurtful. You’re 10,000 miles away from home, living in the basest of conditions to try to help people who would never otherwise have what you can bring them. You’re following the rules of the game, while some hot dog is getting all the attention by breaking them. 

You’ve worked seven years and have a proven success record everyone should be happy with, but the new boss tells the board it's not good enough. Your voice is being heard in places you never dreamed about while locals tell you you don't fit in and the pros ask how much you're making. 

You’re sacrificing yourself and your family by working hard to hold things together, while others are trying to tear them apart. 

But most importantly, by doing good, you are making somebody else look bad, and they don’t like it. So, they call you a poor example of a teacher, force their way past you onto the court, tell the board your best isn’t good enough, give the job to someone unqualified, put their pictures up on the wall, and strengthen their position by telling everyone else an absolute lie. 

May 30, 2003 - The volunteer firemen knew they couldn’t save the buildings from the blaze, 

but they continued to pour water on the smoldering remains of Milford, DE’s historic district.

Discouraged? Angry? Be encouraged by the fact that the good you are doing is being noticed…it’s making the other guys look bad!

Take another look at the story in Mark’s gospel. The example of our faith didn’t waste any time trying to defend Himself or prove His righteousness. He just went on out to the lake and hired a boat so He could talk to the crowd that had gathered from all over the region, because they heard about the good things he was doing.

Yes, it hurts! It feels bad to be made to look bad when you know you’re doing good and they’re doing bad but looking good. But, the bottom line is this: God is refining you and cutting away the part of you that wants to look good. Let Him finish the work. There’s a crowd watching and waiting. Rejoice! 

Matthew 5:11-12

And blessed are you, blessed are all of you, when people persecute you or denigrate you or despise you or tell lies about you on My account. But when this happens, rejoice. Be glad. Remember that God’s prophets have been persecuted in the past. And know that in heaven, you have a great reward. The Voice 

Matthew 6:1

But beware of doing your good actions in the sight of men, in order to attract their gaze; if you do, there is no reward for you with your Father who is in Heaven. Weymouth New Testament 

Psalm 69:4, 20, 32
Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;
What I did not steal, I then have to restore…
Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.

And I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
And for comforters, but I found none…

The humble have seen it and are glad;

You who seek God, let your heart revive. NASB

Synapses, Spark Plugs..and Faith

 Faith is the spark that ignites the impossible and causes it to become possible.

Rick Renner 

I am no more a neurologist than I am a mechanic, but I can recognize a principle of creation in operation. What synapses, spark plugs, and faith have in common is gaps. 

Gaps compel ideas, electricity, and information to leap from transmitters to receptors. In the brain, the gaps are called synapses, the tiny spaces between neurons that carry messages. In some cars, the spark plug forces electricity to arc across a gap, carrying power to get the engine running. 

In our spiritual life, the gap between what we see and what we hope for is the energy called faith.

This principle became clear to me as I considered Jesus’ responses to John the Baptist and Peter at the times when they most needed encouragement. Luke reported that John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to inquire if he was “the One,” the awaited Messiah. John had baptized his cousin, Jesus. He had marveled that it was Jesus who came to him to be baptized. 

But from Matthew’s account we learn John was now in prison. So, “before He answered John’s messengers, Jesus cured many from various diseases, health conditions, and evil spirits. He even caused many blind people to regain their sight” (Luke 7:21, The Voice). Then, Jesus turned back to John’s followers and said, “Go and tell John what you’ve witnessed with your own eyes and ears: the blind are seeing again, the lame are walking again, the lepers are clean again, the deaf hear again, the dead live again, and good news is preached to the poor” (Luke 7:22-23, The Voice).

Instead of simply answering John’s question, He sent John a message that would compel him to do the only thing that mattered. It was a message of hope that would cause John's faith to spark across the divide between his sensory experience and the unseen kingdom of God.

When Peter denied being a follower of Jesus the very same night he’d sworn it would never happen, I imagine he felt pretty worthless. Jesus knew how Peter would feel as much as he knew what Peter would do. To restore him after His resurrection, Jesus sent a messenger to, “Tell his disciples and Peter that he's going ahead of them to Galilee. There they will see him, just as he told them” (Mark 16:7 God’s Word Translation). 

Jesus didn’t just appear to Peter and the others to encourage them. He sent them a message that would stir their faith to spark across the gap from their current state of grief and disbelief to hope in the resurrection.

Before the sun disappears, it colors the world with encouragement.

Of course, it was their choice to not exercise faith, just as it will always be ours. His miraculous power is always available to us, but it will always depend on our allowing faith to leap across the divide between our experience and what we hope for. 

Walking in the promised land of God depends entirely on faith for every step. 

Psalm 27:13

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living (New American Standard Bible).

Matthew 9:28

When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord” (New American Standard Bible). 

Matthew 17:20

Believe me when I tell you, if your faith is only as big as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. You will be able to do anything (Easy to Read Version).

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see (New Living Translation).

Hebrews 11:6

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him (The Message).

Excerpt from: 
While it is Called Today: a 30-day photo devotional for living well 
by Dee Marvin Emeigh

(c) 2014 Dee Marvin Emeigh

all rights reserved

www.livwellseedco.com