Good Deeds and Bad, Excuses for Others and Evil Suspicions

 2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 - King James Version <10> For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. <11> For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

While avoiding sexual sins like adultery or fornication of course matters, people often forget how strongly the Bible condemns things like being a busybody, a gossip, an idler, a parasite. Yes, the Bible dislikes behaviours many of us regard as toxic, and sees them as like chains binding people to Hell.

When people have a predisposition to do some particular evil, this is part of their portion of original sin, which varies from person to person as regards the strength of the chain binding people to different sins. One person may be more likely to say sharp, mean, jerky things than another, being as addicted to it as a cigarette smoker.

Another person may have a predisposition to covetousness, or to desire to commit adultery.

This is true whether the person is rich or poor, White or Black, gay or straight. (I'm not condoning of active homosexuality by making this latter distinction, which is about predisposition and not acting upon it.) God sifts them all. All of them have an equal chance of going to Heaven or to Hell. All of them have leaks in their particular boats which lead to Hell, and the Word is our means of determining whether something is a leak or not!

But that's enough about chains. Let's have some more of the truth that sets free, which we learn from the Gospel of Christ. Let us look at the other, positive side of the coin, what the Bible says about industriousness.

2 Corinthians 9:8 - King James Version <8> And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

When God grants people more than enough, they have capacity to contribute to society and are by default not a burden on society. They have more than enough, which allows them to abound in good deeds. Of course, the Christian recognises that their righteousness comes not from themselves but from Christ Himself.

We know this because "It is He who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure" as well as because "without Him is nothing done that is done". We benefit from recognising this -- "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!" -- because the more we cling to the lifeline of recognising that Jesus is our deeds and any goodness of our deeds, the less we can be self-righteous but the more we can abound.

It is good to do good, and to recognise that good has a name, Jesus. For this insulates you from great evils, like the aforementioned self-righteousness but also the barren outcome which presumes to do very little, using the fact that Jesus is our righteousness as justification not to move. These are the wicked servants who bury their talents in a napkin! There are all sorts of excuses that people make, such as the lion that may be roaming nearby streets...

So people can do good deeds through and through. But they can also do good deeds as though by doing so to 'earn Heaven'; these are generally known as meritorious works, works done to basically buy your salvation from... Heaven. Which is exactly as strange as that sounds.

Then there is a second class of good deeds which is done by a hypocrite. Suppose someone gives a million bucks to an orphanage or medical research fund. If they did it purely to be seen, then they are likely among those whom the Lord says "sound a trumpet before them"...

In such a case, the deed remains externally good, but is internally rotten, like a cow patty coated in Godiva chocolate. The orphans still get to enjoy a more comfortable existence, but the person themselves has not written good deeds on the book of their lives but hypocritical ones.

They can tell that...? God and angels can tell whether a deed was good, meritorious, or hypocritical? Yes! They see into you as we might see into a dollhouse, and know the intentions behind your acts and the ends of your conduct.

Ecclesiastes 5:6 - King James Version <6> Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?

If someone causes the flesh to sin, then the mark is in their hand. When someone says that it was an error, the mark is in their forehead. For where are marks in hands but in the stains of evil deeds? And where are marks in foreheads but the errors which marry sins?

Let me show you what it looks like when errors marry sins.

Mark 15:31-32 - King James Version <31> Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. <32> Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

As you can see, the sin of the chief priests' mocking here is essentially married to the outright falsehood that Christ could not save Himself. But we have a very different story from Jesus' lips Himself!

John 2:19 - King James Version <19> Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

In other words, the commission of a sin distinctly cooccurs with the belief on their part in an outright falsehood!

Suppose someone is arrogant and dismisses another person as "nothing". In that case, they have committed the sin of arrogance -- "Be not proud" is how Jeremiah puts it -- and this cooccurs, very significantly, with the outright falsehood that another person is "nothing". They are not "nothing", they are another speck of dust like you floating in the heat and light of God's sunbeam! "God is no respecter of persons".

Or suppose someone believes they are very important rather than a speck of dust. In such a case they essentially have a distorted view of reality which is distinctly inferior to the worldview of a humble person. For a humble person, someone who obeys His commandment, has a less distorted view of reality by default: they realise more distinctly than the arrogant person, to say the least, that they are more like specks of dust, whereas the arrogant person considers themselves Grand High Pumbas of Icecream.

Psalm 111:10 - King James Version <10> The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

When we help someone from a sincere heart, we do not deliberately entertain evil suspicions about them and have a more realistic view of them as someone who is equal to us in the sight of God. That does not mean throwing our brains out, by the way. If something is genuinely off, people should distance themselves accordingly. But in general it bears false witness to entertain suspicions and accusations about people in our hearts, and people who are good -- with the freely chosen righteousness of Jesus, not their own good-- are more likely to make excuses for others and single out the good points of other people, not merely aloud but in their very thoughts. Here is what Paul says:

Romans 2:13-15 - King James Version <13> (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. <14> For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: <15> Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; )

Those who obey the conscience put into them by their Creator and think well of other people rather than slandering them either aloud or in their thoughts have clean tongues.

But here is the opposite, the evil twin!

Proverbs 21:10 - King James Version <10> The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.

Notice how distinctly it is not the spoken statements but "the soul" of the person which is basically badmouthing people on the inside here...

How often do we each badmouth others, not with our lips, but with our thoughts? Do we ever think someone is nothing? Or deliberately caricature someone? Many times each of us, once we are aware of the phenomenon of inner accusation, or outer for that matter, can see that we engage in various habits of this kind. But those who do not entertain evil suspicions and make excuses for others, those with an end of forgiveness, have a much more positive view of their neighbours. They hear the Word and do it.

Romans 7:7 - King James Version <7> What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

When someone like Paul brings to our attention that our very thoughts should excuse rather than accusing other people, His bringing this to our attention effectively demonstrates this verse in practice. For we know the sin of inner accusation, as Paul has brought to our attention. This is what the Word refers to us as instructing us in iniquity.

May we all become aware of our outer and our inner deeds, and improve in hearing and doing the Word, learning what things comprise chains that bind us to Hell with all diligence, as though our eternal life and neighbourhood depend upon it. For it does!

Good night, enjoy your evenings or whatever neutral or good thing you're about. And enjoy the Word! And its very real relevance to real things.