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Doin Good.


And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

          There are those who say that it doesn’t matter what you believe. All that matters is how you behave. I can see their logic. If you’re nice to me, no matter what you believe, I’ll benefit from the niceness. Even if you believe exactly what I believe, if you’re mean to me, it will hurt.

          The problem with this sort of idea, however, is that John Wayne Gacy, by all accounts, was a nice guy – the boy next door. I’ve known politicians who, when on the campaign trail, would ask me how I was, but when not on the campaign trail, would simply ask for what they wanted. It’s not that they’re mean, they just don’t waste the energy to be nice. My careers at the library and the store, and time spent in prayer have taught me to treat people the same, no matter what I think of them. That means I pray the same basic prayer for the presidents I like, and presidents I don’t lie, for family members, friends, and enemies.

          But while I understand that meaning of “It doesn’t matter what you believe, it only matters how you behave,” that statement is wrong-headed thinking for a couple of reasons. The first is that how you behave is a function of what you believe. If you believe the person walking toward you in the dark is a friend, your behavior would be different from if you believed that person is a rapist, mugger, or serial killed. And you should.

          The other problem with the idea is that today’s passage makes it clear that it matters greatly to God. If you don’t believe in God, you can’t please Him. You could put Mother Theresa, St. Francis, and Mr. Rogers to shame, but not please God. That may sound rather harsh on God’s part, but it actually makes sense. If you are being nice for your own benefit, as Scripture would say, you have your reward. Not so long ago, I explained about my struggle with the idea that God doesn’t care for me as an individual, or a person, but only as one of the herd. I want, and need, to be loved as myself, and not just a conveniently packaged container or chemicals. I need Psalm 139. It makes perfect sense to me that God would not be pleased with behaviors – even good behaviors – if we ignore or reject Him.

          What this means is that good done in the name of humanity is nice. Good done in the name of some other god(s), might also be nice. But we should seek the approval, commendation, and reward from the person or thing in whose name we’ve done the good, based on our relationship with that person or thing, not from someone or something that wasn’t even on our radar.

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