Imagine you are driving down the highway and you make a stop at the lights. In front of you there is a brand new Range Rover Sports, all black with tinted windows and wheels like you have never seen before. Two stickers interrupt the smooth slickness of the black color. The one on the right has the name of a driving school and their telephone number. The sticker on the left is bolder and has only four words. DRIVE THIS RANGE ROVER!
This car represents the driving school in two ways. Words and works. The sign represents the driving school in words giving the information you need to get in touch with the school, but the car itself is the real advertisement! I bet if you were planning to enroll in a driving school and you saw this car you and many others would say, “This is the driving school I would love to go to!”
Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Our words and what we tell others about God serve as the sticker on the car. Our works on the other hand are like the car. They are what people see as we interact with them and either give glory to God and want more of Him in their life, or they see our works and don’t want anything to do with our God. When we think about good works we think about feeding the poor, visiting the prisoners and the sick, taking care of the widows and the likes. Besides are these not the things that Jesus say He will look out for in Matthew 25? Well there is more to it than that!
Sometimes as Christians we behave like corporates. What do I mean by that? We wait for seasons like Christmas and Easter to go out and “give back to the society” Good works are things we do seasonally. That should not be the case. Besides, there is much more to good works than what we think. The bible tells us “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Good works should be the realm that we live in. Good works should be the norm for us who are born again. How do you do your work? How do you treat your employees? What are you doing in your community and neighborhood? How do you treat others on the road and in traffic? How are you in class? What we do in every sphere of life is important and it equates to good works. Helping others considering others as better than yourself, all these are things that should be part of who we are.
The more we grow in God the more we realize that everything we do we do as unto the Lord in His strength under His authority and for His purpose!
Yes! People can read the message, but what kind of Car are you driving?
Reflective Thoughts
What are some excuses you give to talk yourself out of doing good works when the opportunity presents itself?
Do you look at your whole life, job, career, family etc. as the arena to do good works or have you segmented it to spiritual and secular?
What are some of the things that you can deliberately set out to do from today to engage in good works as a lifestyle?
