Be good. Do good.

I’m reading a couple of books about productivity, leadership and the fine art of organizing your life so that you spend more time on life’s priorities, and less time trying to find your car keys (or something like that). These books have been very challenging and encouraging.

While reading one of them, I was struck by the idea that so much of the Overboard Life revolves around one command: do good. Truthfully, at the end of each day, you can almost measure the “success” of a day by asking yourself, “Did I do good, today?” Before you grammar nazis go all crazy on me, I’m not asking if you did well (as in, “did you do your work well, today”), I’m asking, “Did you do good” (as in, “Did you do something good for your neighbor?”).

This got me thinking about all the passages in the Bible that talk about doing good for others. Here are just a few:

Proverbs 3:27: “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”

Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Galatians 6:9-10: “Let us not become weary in doing good...therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Look how The Message paraphrases this verse: “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

1 Thessalonians 5:15: “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.”

Titus 2:14: “[Jesus] gave Himself for us to redeems us from all wickedness and purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.”

Are you looking for opportunities to do good, today?

Of course, the only way that we can truly find the good that God wants us to do, is to make sure that the good we seek is done for His honor and His glory. I think it’s possible to do good in order to lift up our name and bring praise to ourselves. Clearly our activities to do good for others should flow from the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and the motive must come from the command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength.”

Will you do some good today? How about tomorrow, when you wake up, you pray this to God: “Father, help me to see opportunities to do good for others today, in order that they might see my work and praise your name because of it.” I’m guessing God will help you see that there are plenty of chances for you to promote His name through good deeds done for others.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Joe Castaneda

Prepare to shed a tear...

Every time I watch a movie, read a story or see something about Dick and Rick Hoyt, I usually end up wiping tears from eyes. Over 950 times, Dick has pushed his son Ricky in a wheel chair or pedaled him on a bike or pulled him in a canoe across race finish lines all over the U.S. Every time I think of this duo, I am reminded of what the power of a father’s love can do. Rick Hoyt is severely disabled. And when doctors told the family to just “put him away” because he would never be more than a vegetable, the Hoyt family decided to take him home and prove doctors wrong. Take ten minutes to watch this special piece on Team Hoyt as they tell their amazing story:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/36fjVFHNU48]

My favorite part of the video is when Dick says, “He’s competing. I just give him my arms and legs, but he’s competing.” I am so moved by that father’s love and I am so reminded of the love of my own Heavenly Father in the same way.

I’ve often heard people use the phrase, “we are the hands and feet of Jesus” -- and in one sense it is very true. We represent Jesus in this world, and the way we walk and serve will be the best (or sometimes worst) representation of Jesus some people will ever see.

But in another very real sense, we are all like Ricky Hoyt. “Powerless” on our own, but with God as our hands and feet, we are able to compete in this life. With His help we are able to put aside our own selfish ambition and vain conceit, we are able to serve others as we have been served, we are able to love as God loved and we are able to run our race. We aren’t gods; we are God’s.

At the end of his life, the Apostle Paul told Timothy, “I have the run the race” and he was ready to receive his reward. How did Paul run? He ran as man pushed by God. He didn’t run on his own strength, He ran with God’s! In 2 Corinthians 11:23-29, Paul lists out the trials he worked through in his life while serving God. Then, in chapter 12, he discusses a “thorn in flesh” -- some sort of extreme suffering that kept him dependent on God. And at the end of this recounting of all of his hardships Paul says this: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Paul was just admitting that he was like Ricky Hoyt. No mistaking it -- Paul was competing. But he was competing with the power of God’s arms and God’s legs, so that using God’s strength, God would be glorified in Paul’s life.

You can’t live Overboard in your own strength for very long. Let God give you the power you need to press on so, like Paul, you too can finish your race!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!