Our Great Capacity to Do Good #JesusFollowers

Human beings have an amazing, in-born capacity to do good, to serve and to love others. We are called by Jesus to put these abilities to use, building God's Kingdom here on this earth, while becoming the spiritually complete human beings God wants us to become.

Jesus calls us to a life of active service of others, knowing that we are capable of what God asks if us. It is not too difficult, not are His tasks hard, if we prepare ourselves, and then act in obedience. (Deut. 30:11-14.)

In his Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13) Jesus tells of seeds (his teachings) falling in hard ground, on rocks, and on receptive soil. In the same way, we must let ourselves become fertile, receptive soil to the teachings of Jesus, and let them take root in our souls, so they bear fruit in the world.

Jesus also taught that spiritually Good treasure comes from those who have stored up goodness in their hearts (Matt. 12:35.) We should in this same way cultivate and grow Goodness within us, so we can share it with others, as God intends us to do.

In his Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25) Jesus says that those who bury their gifts, rather than sharing them fully, do not please God, because our God-given gifts are not being put to good use in the service of others, as God intended.

God has given us great gifts, and we are called to use those gifts to serve others, not to bury them, or to ignore what we have been given. We prepare our minds do Good Works when we recognize our gifts, and then commit to use them to actively follow Jesus' teachings.

We should allow our minds and hearts to be open to others’ needs - cultivating the soil of our hearts to be attuned to their needs.

There are those who claim that human beings are too weak to do good, or that we have an in-born, inherited disease that prevents us from doing good. Others demean the capacity for good works God has given all of us at birth. Both viewpoints greatly slander and demean God.

Seeing ourselves - God's creations - as lower and weaker than we are doesn't make God any bigger, which apparently is the motive for this mistaken belief. Instead, it makes both human beings and their creator seem smaller, weaker, and unjust.

If God had commanded us to be do Good, yet knows that we can never do the Good Works He commands, that would make God an unjust ruler, out of touch with His creation.

But we know that God is perfectly Holy, Just and reasonable to His creations. His judgment is tempered by mercy, and He has always known His creatures are capable of more than we, ourselves believe ourselves to be capable.

God and the one He chose as an example for us, Jesus, have commanded us to seek Righteousness, to do Works of Goodness, and to love our neighbors and our God with EVERY spiritual, mental and material gift that we have been given.

If we need courage and encouragement to serve others, we need only reflect on the gifts we've been given by God, our Creator, including the inspiring and perfect moral life of Jesus. And just as Jesus did, we may seek God's face in prayer for further strength, and we know that we can obtain it.

Because Jesus did all that God called him to do, God was "well pleased" with him, and called him His Son. Because Jesus, a man like us, was able to do what God commanded, we may be assured that we, too, may also become the people God wishes us to become.

Jesus is our template and model in all things, and his words and life are proof that we may do all that God requires of us. When we keep our eyes focused on his teachings, and when we obey them, we become more spiritually complete.

We should respond to his call to do Good Works with enthusiasm, knowing that God has given us what we need to do what He asks us to do - at birth, and through His chosen son, Jesus, and continually through God's spirit, which inspires us always to do more for our fellow human beings.