Tired of Doing Good

I remember being a “bagger” in the supermarket during college and aspiring one day to be a manager.  When that one day came and I was a manager, I remember sometimes wishing I could go back and be that bagger who just works and has no major responsibilities.

That’s how it is when you try to do good, be moral, and live a life for God as a fully devoted follower of Christ.  You eventually can get “tired of doing good” and sometimes you wish you can just live your life the way you want, without any major responsibilities.

For some reason or another, doing good can make us weary.  Maybe we try to do too much, too quick.  There’s a million reasons why. I don’t know. But I know that it is so common that Paul the apostle tells the church in Galatia “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (6:9).”

There are three things I believe we must do to get out of that desire to being “tired in doing good”:

1. Recognize that the sin we would rather do will cause destruction.

Before verse 9 Paul talks about this reaping and sowing principle.  See God is just and fair and shows no favoritism. Your sin, just like everyone else’s, has consequences.  If you sow sin, you reap destruction.  That’s the rule of thumb. It’s not an easy position to take, but we have to recognize that no matter how pleasing the sin looks, it’s only going to be pleasing for a short time (Hebrews 11:25).

2. Recognize that there is good news heading your way.

Right in verse 9 Paul tells us that good news will be seen due to that reaping and sowing principle.  Just like sin will lead to destruction, so will doing good be returned with a harvest!  It’s that kind of focus and attention that we need to have.  Moses is noted as having faith because “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time (Heb. 11:25).”  Doing good is a CHOICE, and our choices have consequences/rewards.  We may have to accept some hard responsibility when doing the good if we want to see the reward. But it will come!

3. Start close at home.

Paul follows this thought with this practical advice: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (v. 10).  We don’t have to look very far to find someone to do good for.  They are usually right at our door in our local church.  Start there.  The friendship and common support each of us through this will be enough to do good for more people right under our noses.  I also know that this is especially essential for our missionaries and people living in distant lands, working alone.  They may be far, but they are the family of believers who should always be apart of our doing good.  I think this verse really describes what that feels like when we do: Proverbs 25:25  “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.”