Fear of good deeds

I find that some Christians have a hesitation about good deeds. On the one hand they promote and preach them. On the other hand they have ambivalence toward them.

Years ago a woman asked me to accompany her on a walk in the woods, as she had some important subject to discuss. I listened attentively as she told me about her work with foster children, her tutoring of needy students (she’s a math teacher), and other random acts of kindness. (I was already aware of some of these acts, having observed her from afar in our church life.)

Then she came to the point: She was worried she might be sinning against God in doing these good deeds. I asked her how would she be sinning against God? She answered that maybe she is doing these things for the wrong reasons. Maybe she is trying to earn her salvation. Maybe she is even trampling the finished work of Christ underfoot by trying to supplement His atoning sacrifice with her own earnings.

I didn’t know what to tell her that day, and the woman went away as confused as before we met. The reason I didn’t know what to tell her is because I, too, had been swimming in an atmosphere of good deed–suspicion at the time, as a fish swims in water and is too close to discern what he’s drinking.

But here is what I know now: Christ died for me, securing grace not only for forgiveness but also for living a godly life full of good deeds. He said, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” Paul instructed Timothy that the widows whom the church should support are those who have a “reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.”

Devotion to good deeds—and not merely the accidental or spontaneous or unconscious doing of them—is strongly urged throughout Scripture.

In Titus, Paul harps on good deeds in every chapter of a three-chapter letter: “[An overseer must be] hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined” (1:8). He is critical of people who “profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are … unfit for any good work” (1:16). “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works” (2:7). “Remind [the people] to be … ready for every good work” (3:1). “I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people” (3:8). “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful” (3:14).

The verdict is in. The Bible is for, and not against, the devoted and premeditated doing of good deeds. If I were to meet with the troubled woman again I would tell her that Scripture tells us to do all the good deeds we desire, with no qualm of conscience. There is a key rack on my kitchen wall that reads, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15). Joshua, now there was a man with no erroneous theological baggage.