Eagerness For Doing Good

"Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?"

1 Peter 3:13, NIV

Is it enough just to want to do good? How eager do you have to be to hit the mark?

Because I know of a considerable number of people who have suffered quite a bit in their eagerness to help others, to do good. It's so common, there's a phrase that I use fairly often; a phrase that over the years I have proved to be true:

"No good deed goes unpunished..."

This modern-day proverb, although rather cynical in nature, contradicts firmly the idea that good people are rewarded for their good deeds. In fact, it's often quite the opposite. It's not known who first came up with this modern proverb ... however they certainly got it right.

Because there are lots of occasions when things don't end as you think they should. We don't all live "happily ever after".... this is real life, not a fable or a fairy tale. Sometimes there might not be a happy ending. Or even a proper conclusion to what we are trying to do. And that's awful. That's not the way it should be...

All of the encouragement that I received as a child, as a young man - to work tirelessly to make this world a better place; to use my talents for the common good; to be altuistic; to strive to do make our society better. That encouragement is not there now.

Now, we suffer because we are doing good. We are ridiculed, mocked, dismissed as cranks.  Who is going to harm you? There's a whole bunch of 'em. They line up to take turns at us.

We are rejected as do-gooders. What we do is dismissed as second-rate, despite the fact we do it without reward, and many times without support (either physical or financial).

They haven't a clue why we do it. They say we must have an ulterior motive. When we stumble and fall, they say we are used up and we are cast aside.

Sometimes we suffer because we do it in the name of Jesus. We may be hurt. We run the risk of being killed for the sake of Jesus.

However, I still believe in the idea of doing good. There are so many that are in need, and they need to be loved, to hear the good news... And I am eager to carry on... Who is with me?

Are all the others that used to help gone now?

Am I all alone here? Hello?