Day 26 of 50

READING GUIDE:

• Read today's devotion below and Matthew 5.
• During days 22-28 (at your own pace) read chapters 11 thru 16 from Joining Jesus on His Mission.
• After days 22-28, meet with your small group and follow the back-of-the-book discussion guide for SESSION 4.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

Good works can come in the smallest forms, even in just a smile. 

The last church I served at has two campuses. One of these campuses runs a seven-day-a-week coffee house. I served at the other campus two miles away. One of my responsibilities was picking up supplies each Friday from the full-service coffee house and bringing them back to my campus to be used at our much-smaller-scale Sunday morning coffee service.

During my last pick up, one of the baristas came up to me and said, "Thanks for always coming in with a smile. Some of those Fridays when you'd come in, I may have been in a bad mood and down on life. Then I'd see you walk in smiling and think, well, maybe things aren't as dark as they seem. Maybe there is hope for the day." I had no idea! I had some brief friendly conversations with this person each week, but that was about it. I feel blessed by God to be able to tell this story because we don't always get to hear the impact God uses through us in another's life. But these simple acts of doing good do make an impact.

I've always been a fan of Saint Francis of Assisi's comment, "Preach the good news, if necessary, use words." We live in a jaded culture. It is hard to trust people. They may say one thing but do they really mean it and live it. As Finke points out in chapter 15, "...it is important that people see Jesus in us before they hear about Jesus from us. The good works he has prepared in advance for us to do become visible proof that Jesus is real. Words regain meaning because through our simple acts of kindness, people are seeing that the kingdom of God has come to them."  

So what good can you do in your community? How can you help make the kingdom and grace of God a little more real to people with whom you cross paths? How can you show the love of Jesus even in the smallest forms?

In your reading of Matthew 5 what does Jesus teach on doing good? After listening to Him, what good will you put into practice today?

"...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthews 5:16b ESV)