Food for ThoughtJames 4:17 Right Thing
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

James 4:17 English Standard Version

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

There is an attitude among many people who have convinced themselves that not getting involved is the right thing to do.

In 1969, a 28 year old woman was stabbed to death while walking from her car to her apartment after she got off work.  Thirty eight people saw or heard her desperate screams for help and though the assailant was interrupted three times by neighbors turning on their lights to see what the screams were about, he returned each time until he made the fatal blow.    No one called police until after the woman was dead.  It took them two minutes to arrive.

This has been an ongoing issue and people choose to turn their heads and pretend they didn’t see anything.    Why?

It is because of fear; fear of retaliation. Fear makes us do things we would not otherwise do.  

John Philpot Curran created a quote that became famous over time.  “Evil thrives when good men do nothing.” Over the years this quote was slightly been altered to include all people so that it states “Evil thrives when good people do nothing.”

The Bible is filled with those who stepped into situations that were not their own; and yet they felt compelled to get involved.   Deborah, the prophetess of the Lord, became the leader of the Lord’s army, because Barak, the man who was supposed to lead the Lord’s army into victory refused to unless Deborah would go with him.   She went out against the enemy and in the strength of the Lord, defeated them.

David, who became King of Israel, faced a giant who mocked Israel and their God.  David took five smooth stones and brought Goliath down.

Jesus would not have been our Messiah had He not stepped into the most profound place in history.

He made the ultimate sacrifice against evil and got involved in saving us from eternal damnation. We need to step up as Christians and allow God to use us in situations where others are afraid to go.   God owns this world and gave it to us. We have a right to be involved and we must make it our mission to stop evil wherever we see it. .

Psalm 24:1 (CEB)

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it,     
the world and its inhabitants too.

Challenge:  When you see a situation where you can stop evil, move forward in the grace and strength of the Lord.  Your time spent with God will prepare you for those moments. Soak your soul in the word and presence of God so that you will be ready for those moments when you need courage.  

God bless

Marni.     

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.