Summer Scripture - 1 Tim 5:24&25

Hey, guys!

The scripture we read during 1st hour service was 1 Timothy 5:24 & 25.

"The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden."

It can be pretty obvious when someone is doing something wrong, can't it? In the movies you see a bank being held up by men in ski masks, and there's no question who the bad guys are. As you go through life at work and at school, there are people who are doing things that you will immediately recognize as sin. Sometimes that sin isn't so obvious though. Sometimes the things that hurt you or are hurting others are things you can't prove. Maybe it's bad gossip that is going to make someone really embarassed. Maybe it's making money in a way that isn't honest or is going to hurt someone else. You don't often see that sin happening, and often times the person sinning will never see the final result of their actions, but that doesn't mean someone didn't get hurt.

In the same way, doing the right thing is always obvious. I was in New York a couple of weeks ago, and I was having breakfast in a small cafe in Times Square at around 8am. There were hundreds of people bustling about the sidewalk trying to get to work. Most of them were listening to iPods, reading, or drinking coffee. One lady, who had a book in one hand and headphones in her ears, wasn't paying attention where she was going, and as she neared the curb to cross the street, she misjudged and fell flat on her face. She must have been completely embarassed, but as quickly as she fell, no less that 5 people stopped in the middle of the street to help her. These were complete strangers, one of them in a full suit probably headed to Wall Street, another was clearly a construction worker. As the two men helped her to her feet and then to the curb, another woman picked up all the things that had fallen out of her purse, including her wallet, and put them safely away so she wouldn't lose anything. There was no hiding that good deed, and I think that's what Paul was talking about in this passage.

When people sin, they bring pain into the world. Whether we see it, or we don't, it's going to cause harm to someone, even if it's ourselves by separating us from the God who loves us just a little bit more. When we do the right thing, though, whether people see it or they don't, you're going to make the world a better place one moment at a time. You're going to be the hands and feet of God and bring a little bit more joy in the world, and I think that makes our Father proud of us.

Be Good!