I recently saw a video of a tv show where these parents thought they were doing something great in their basement. In reality, they had created an environment where snakes could come in. Without knowing this, they went on a date night. The babysitter went downstairs to wash clothes. While there, she was bitten by a snake or two and passed out on the laundry room floor. These parents being new decided to look at their nanny cam and found that there was a snake in the child’s room and the babysitter was nowhere around. So they call 911 and the fire department was dispatched. Of course the fire department being who they are came in to save the day.
The thing was that this situation reminded me the other morning of something that my friend use to say that her mother used to tell her: Don’t let your good be evil spoken of. The times when we think we are doing good and think we are doing right but the good thing is not necessarily the best thing. The parents thought they were doing good in their new home. They thought they were doing something that would help increase the value to their new home, but they created an environment where snakes came in.
Biblically snakes represent evil. It is the snake is the villain in the story of Adam and Eve that gets them kicked out of the Garden of Eden. There are times in our lives where we create an environment where we think we’re doing something good, but we are allowing something to attach to us that should not be attached. Now this good thing could be helping someone or giving someone a ride or providing them with food or providing them with love and support or bringing them into our inner circle. I’m not telling you to not do good for people not at all what I am saying is that before you make an action check with the Lord thy God and ensure that thing that you want to do is something that he is directing you to do.
When my friend first said this to me, I did not realize that this statement was based on biblical teachings. It can be found in the book of Romans 14th chapter 16th verse: “Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil” (NIV). Our job as Christians is to safeguard that we are doing is what God wants. We are not to judge or condemn. Sometimes you’ll find people wanting to do just that. They will want to judge what you are doing not because its bad or wrong but because their spirit isn’t right. They will speak all manner of evil against you. But, if the Lord says it, then do it. I’ve taken the shoes off my feet and given them to another because God said so. Others told me that the young lady was using me. That wasn’t for me to judge, that was between her and God. My part – my only part – was to do as I was commanded. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. While many associate this with finances, don’t you realize that we have more than money to give. Who gives biblical wisdom to those around? Who gives love and support to a stranger on the street? And all this they do in the name of Jesus? A citizen of the kingdom of God will realize that the good he/she does isn’t in vain thereby any evil spoken on it will cause judgement to the speaker not to them. However, doing something just for those to see you do it or because it adds value to you or your possession, well, that’s not Godly.
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 1-4 NIV)
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