Luke 6:27,28 – “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”
One of my favorite verses concerning the mission of Jesus is found in Acts 10:38 – “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
When we think about the ministry of Jesus we think about the miracles and the healings, and specifically in the above verse, His healing of those afflicted by demonic spirits. But this verse also says very simply that Jesus went about “doing good.” Maybe it never reached the level of a miracle but it was nonetheless doing something good. Maybe it was encouraging people. Maybe it was helping a shepherd with a sheep. Maybe it was helping someone with some carpentry, a skill he acquired while growing up.
Our text invites us to do some very hard things: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who spitefully use you. But there is one thing that should be easy for every single one of us and that is to do good. Oh I know what the rest of it says…and that’s also tough – to do good to those who hate you. But if we are in the habit of doing good it won’t be that difficult to do it to those who don’t deserve it. So today do something simple…choose to do good.