Posts
DON’T GROW WEARY OF DOING GOOD
“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thess 3: 13-16)
It's hard not to grow weary of doing good, especially if we are new to it, as were the recently-converted Thessalonians and hence might expect good-doing to be easy or “rewarding” in this-worldly ways. It’s also hard for us, not to tire of doing the little or big good thing we are doing, especially because of our culture of instant gratification. We probably tend to have an even smaller capacity for endurance and patience with ourselves and others, than did the ancient Thessalonians, when certain people or institutions remain indifferent or even hostile to our good-doing. We might develop a sort of Unrequited Love Syndrome, toward the people and institutions of our world.
But St. Paul was no stranger to failure in his own ministry, which fell on deaf ears among his own people, or worse, led him to being kicked out of more than one city, and even worse, led him ultimately to prison and getting beheaded by his state authorities. His little flock in Thessaloniki was also dealing with institutional persecutions, but in the passage above he calls them to level-headedness with the annoying people in their own community. He does call the Thessalonians to “not keep company” with such brethren, but not to count them as enemies and to admonish them. That’s a difficult balance to strike, but today let us take heart and “not grow weary of doing good.” St. Paul says, as he knew from experience, “the Lord of peace Himself” can and does give us peace through our patience with ourselves and others. “The Lord be with you all,” he says to all of us this post-election season. Thank you, dear St. Paul, and please pray to God for all of us.
____
A timely message from Sister Vassa. The moral landscape in our country has changed considerably in just the last generation or so. NOT doing good is being rewarded now, in a way that would have been inconceivable just a generation ago. This does not bode well for future generations, who are already cut off from a Christian moral vision of life. As Christians, we need not reward moral turpitude. It is difficult "not to keep company" with those who abandon all moral and ethical norms, but even so, we can maintain our own moral dignity without succumbing to the temptation of awarding what is NOT good in our society today. May the Lord sustain us and bless us as we go forward into a challenging moral landscape.
