"To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world." ~1Cor 4:11-13
Christianity has been around for over two thousand years, and as long as the Earth if we include Judaism as part of her historical lineage. It was not all smooth-sailing in the beginning; in fact, their Messiah, Jesus Christ, had to suffer and even died on the cross in order to save the world of their sins. Following Jesus' ascension to heaven, His disciples attempted to fulfill the near impossible Great Commission task of making disciples of all nations. They formed the minority, having the urgency to find their self-identity in the greater Greco-Roman society, apart from their Jewish heritage. They were severely persecuted during their times.
Those are the context from which the above passage was written by Apostle Paul. Increasingly, modern Christians like to (mis)quote the passage when they do not get what they wanted. They think that being ostracized by their social circle on account of their Christian faith is persecution. What they fail to realize is that they are not being persecuted for the good actions produced by their faith, instead they are being judged by the kind intentions because of their faith. There is a subtle difference between the two actions, which we can see in greater details below.
Good Actions
For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ~1Peter 2:15
The epistle of 1Peter teaches us that it is God's will to do good. In fact, this is one of God's character, in which He wants us to imitate. In the book of Genesis, Creation was so well formed together that God assessed it to be good. An active good engagement can help us to silence the unceasing ignorant talk of people. We need to understand that good is something that we constantly need to strive for without giving up. It is futile to address people as good when they have ceased to continue to do good. For such people, we will usually add in "used to be" to remember their past good but not their present bad. In this aspect, we can view the final destination of doing good to be perfection, from which all goodness will radiate. Only when we actively pursue good can we mute the ignorant talk of people. Those who do not know God also understand what is good because we are all created with the capacity to do good and be perfect. Unknowingly, we all tend to project our image or standard of good towards others, and rarely to ourselves. For example, we demand good customer service from service staffs without thinking that we may fail terribly if placed in the same shoe of serving others. These kinds of unpleasant words come naturally from the lips of Christians and non-Christians alike, simply because the world has not yet attained perfection. Our mandate is to fulfill the Great Commandments and the Great Commission by relentlessly doing what is good. We also need to educate the foolish by doing what is right. God's way of salvation is never to beat others at their own game. We should strive to win over others by doing what is right in God's eyes. This is to say that we should never try to outran others in terms of worldly pursuit, for that is foolishness in the kingdom of God. Material possessions often come as a test and a temptation. When one fails the test, it will become an even bigger temptation that is far more difficult to resist. Doing good may not necessary be doing something so great that will impact the world, instead it is often exemplifies in the little help that we render our neighbors and the needy. Doing good does not equate to sticking around in church premise trying to lend a helping hand. It is to venture out of our comfort zone and into our local community to sense the needs of fellow citizens. Doing good also does not translate to tangible actions. It can be in a passive form of responsible restriction of our own privileges in order not to do something bad. In whatever manners we can think of, doing good is ultimately God's will for all of us.
Kind Intentions
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. ~James 2:26
Many non-Christians criticize Christianity because of our kind intentions. In fulfilling the Great Commission, we tend to "over-evangelize" to our loved ones, our friends and even strangers out there in the street. The greater the enthusiasm, the greater the criticism. Why so? People are just not convinced that Christianity will help them to become a better person. Granted that the message of the gospel is to save sinners, not produce saints. But people perceive the same gospel will have a transforming effect on believers, especially on someone whom they have known for some time. Besides learning how to evangelize, would it be more appropriate to allocate some regular times to examine ourselves before God and to ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins. Then we can learn to repent and learn how to overcome our weaknesses by the grace of God. Who knows, perhaps the process of getting rid of our own weaknesses can be a good and powerful testimony of God's transforming deeds in our lives. Kind intentions and doing good are two different actions. A kind intention can produce a good action, but it is merely a kind gesture, or a by-the-way kind of deed, whereas doing good is an intentional will to engage in good actions with the aim of perfection. For example, one can help a colleague to open a door out of kind intention, whereas he will also proceed to engage in deep conversation with that colleague to understand his/her needs better because he wants to do something good for him/her.
The next time when we are faced with "persecutions", we need to ask ourselves whether we have been doing good and become a positive source of influence in our current social setting. Quite often, the things that we matter does not matter to others unless we matter what they matter too. It is not out of pure kind intention that missionaries help the poor and needy to build houses, schools, hospitals and other important facilities. Instead, they engage in social projects precisely because they want to imitate Jesus Christ. It is only when we show with visible actions that we care and love them that they will start to appreciate the love of God, which is embedded in every part of the gospel message. So the next time you have kind intention for a person or a group of people, ask God to give you compassion and love for them, so that you can walk the extra mile and do good to meet their felt and real needs by the power of the gospel in Christ. Amen!
