“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
James 4:17
When you hear the word sin, what do you think of? We have all struggled with sin in our lives. But what exactly is sin? It is easy to label all the bad stuff as sin. We look at the Ten Commandments and see things like murder, theft, immorality, covetousness, and things like that. But does that cover all of what sin is?
Jesus reminds us that two things cover everything in the law and the prophets, Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. So does that mean anything that does not fall into these two things is sin?
Then we see James jump in and tell us that “if you know the good you ought to do and do not do it, that is sin!” Have you ever had a moment where you felt the urge to do something or help someone and you passed on because you had somewhere to be? I have. And now as I read this I am convicted as I knew the good I was supposed to do, but did not do it!
Jesus tells us the story of the Good Samaritan to give us a picture of this. I have a story that is similar that I want to share to illustrate this point and how it can make an impact.
This story takes place in 1995 on Mother’s Day. There is a woman with two young boys, 13 and 10. They have had a rough time in life. The mother is working hard to provide and not seeming to be able to get ahead. Raising two boys by herself and feeling discouraged in life. That morning is like many others. It’s a Sunday and they spend the morning in church.
After church they make a spur of the moment decision to visit Grandma, who lives about an hour and a half from their small town. About a third of the way through the trip, a tire blows out on the car. Fighting to maintain control the woman carefully pulls to the side of the highway. Since they were in the fast lane, they ended up on the shoulder by the median of the highway.
A quick search of the car reveals the spare, but no equipment to change the tire. Maybe a mile from the nearest exit the mother and two boys start the journey to find help or a phone. This on top of everything else starts a mental spiral with questions of “why!!”
Only a few steps down the highway someone pulls up to the median from the other side of the freeway to assess the situation. When he discovers that the only thing missing is a jack and wrench he advises to head back to the car. He then takes the next exit to circle around and change the tire.
What could have been a huge ordeal only sets this small family back about 45 minutes because of the kindness of a stranger. Because it resolved so quickly they proceeded to make the surprise visit to see grandma.
On that trip there was peace and a decision made to make a move to be closer to family. This mother finally started to see a light in her almost hopeless situation. Then a week later she goes to sleep and never wakes up again. Because of the decisions made on this trip those two boys chose to go live with their grandmother. A place where they would learn to seek and serve God for their lives.
The course of these boys' lives was changed by the thankless act of a stranger. A man they would never see again. A man who was looking for a reward and would likely never know or understand the impact that he had.
Now I’m not saying that you should stop and help everyone. There are times that it may not be the right choice. But what if you do stop? What if you help? What impact might you have if you know the good you ought to do and you do it!
I’ve heard it said, “Be the change that you want to see!” Now there’s a concept. Instead of complaining, take action! Do something. Take a stand! Be different! Start where you are at - instead of walking past that piece of trash and saying people shouldn’t litter, pick it up and throw it away. Instead of complaining about people being unfriendly, you make the change and be friendly.
Bottom line, you know what you should do, because it is tugging at you! It is that thing that keeps bugging you about other people. It’s that area that you see needs to change. Get up and take action! Do what you know you need too!
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