How Do You Do?

Actions, then, are called just and temperate when they are such as the just or the temperate man would do; but it is not the man who does these that is just and temperate, but the man who also does them as just and temperate men do them. -- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Slaves, obey your earthly masters  with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. -- Ephesians 6:5-8

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. -- 1 Corinthians 10:31

Doing good should, I suppose, ideally arise from being good.  Being, though, can be honed by practice.  It seems we used to understand this better than we do today. 

We can do much good deceptively, to gain an advantage, to convince others that we are better or other than we are.  Sometimes we may even convince ourselves.  Thus both Paul and Aristotle point out the importance of the intentions and motives that underlie our actions.  Intentions are not feelings.  My actions count.  My motives count.  My emotions, not so much.  I may feel like doing the right thing, or I may not.  I should do it anyway.

Whatever we do, we can do it to the glory of God.  That is, we can do it as Jesus — who was certainly just and temperate, merciful and gracious and true -- would, i.e., for the same reasons.  The question is not, then, what Jesus would do, but how and why.  Imitating Christ is good; however, it means imitating Him at a level beyond pious behavior.

To put what He said in words I might be able to understand, Jesus was always looking outside for need and inside for direction and authority.  I am apt to turn it wrong-side out, look inward at my own needs and wants while looking outside for someone or something to fix me.  By looking inside for authority, we mean looking spirit-ward, away from the physical strength and resources we might bring to bear and toward, as Jesus said, what we see our Father doing. 

Our authority and power to act righteously comes from what is done above — as God's will is done in heaven, we replicate that on earth.  As I often must remind myself, prayer is not about getting my way so much as it is about getting a look at His way.  One mistake I have made in the past, even understanding that truth about prayer, is that I held an expectation of some vast, detailed, all-encompassing vision or revelation.  That can happen, I suppose, but it's more like finding out what frequency God is broadcasting on today and tuning my receiver to pick it.  The message won't come through until its time, but, if I'm not on the right channel, I'm likely to miss it.