Good . . . Good Works! What are good works? In A Basic Christian (ABC) class, the participants learnt that “good works are doing what is right and helpful to others.” Basically, good works are beneficial, useful and profitable works. In the Gospels, we heard that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (Acts 10:38 ESV). I am not saying that we can all go around healing those who are oppressed by the devil but I am saying that we can all go around doing good for the people around us. In Ephesians 2:10 ESV, we know that: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” As God’s children, we should be keen in doing good works just as our Lord Jesus did. Why aren’t we keen in doing good works or why aren’t we doing good works in the first place? I am not saying that all of us are not doing them but more can be done in regards to doing good works. The question which is prevalent to us is: What kinds of work are considered good work?

Opportunities! What are opportunities? Opportunities are not self-induced but God-provided. They are favourable openings offered by circumstances. Do we have opportunities to do good works? I believe that we have. We need to look out for opportunities to do good, especially to the community of believers here at True Way. Once the opportunity is gone, it can never be retrieved. While it is day, let us make full use of the day! I am reminded in Galatians 6:10 ESV that as we have opportunity, we should do good to everyone. The best place to begin doing good to others is in the church premises where the people of God gather for worship every Sunday.

Each Sunday, before worship service, it would be good to ask the Lord to show you whom He wants you to sit with. You may also ask God to make you a blessing to him or her. It is good to sit with someone unfamiliar to us. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to engage with and extend God’s kindness to. After worship service, get to know someone whom you have not known before or talked to. As you take concrete steps to do good to others, you will know that it is worth it. You are doing it for the Lord’s sake and for His kingdom’s sake. Just know that the little kindness you do for an individual has great impact for eternity! As we get to know people around us, we will have the opportunity to hear, listen and even pray for the one whom we make effort to reach out to. We all need to come out of our comfort zone and courageously look out for those who are neglected or disturbed around us. I appeal, especially, to those who are currently joining a Discipleship Group (DG) to talk with newcomers and regular worshippers so as to help them see the benefits of joining a small group like our DGs. In our DGs, there are lots of opportunities for you to do good to one another but are we, as DG members, really doing it? One way to begin is to pair up DG members as buddies to contact each other so as to get to know each other as well as to pray for one another. Another way is to create opportunity for opening up ourselves to others in the DG.

For those who have experienced the warmth of a DG, wouldn’t it be great if you could introduce at least one person to your DG this year 2016? In our midst, there are still many regular worshippers who are not in any DGs. So, it is time for every DG to do something about this. These are real opportunities for us to see someone being nurtured in their faith and someone being warmth by the wonderful fellowship of a DG! Getting someone to join a DG is a kind of good work which we can do. It is not that difficult to do good to others. By overcoming our initial inertia, it will then be much easier later. The realisation that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works will spur us to seize every opportunity to do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

So, after worship service, proceed to the Cozy Corner or the Event Hall, get to connect with people, people whom our Lord Jesus loves. Let the love of Christ constrains us to look for opportunity to minister to one another, to give a listening ear to the distress, to attend to the needs of the needy, to pray for someone who are out of job for quite a while or unwell and to do whatever we can to demonstrate that we are truly God’s people who cares.