Do-Gooders and Doers of Good

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13th April: Do-Gooders and Doers of Good

He went about doing good. Acts 10:38

The epitaph of the Lord Jesus, which came from the lips of a close friend and follower, was that 'He went about doing good' (Acts 10:38). Unfortunately, the phrase 'doing good' is debased coinage in current usage. The 'do-gooder' is thought of as a meddler, the amateur of mixed psychological motives who dips into other people's business with little benefit and sometimes the reverse. Such people can of course be tiresome and can do harm. But this does not justify a general attitude of contempt towards the desire to do good.

Doctors, nurses, social workers and all whose business it is to provide medical care, counselling and the like, know that they must be objective in their approach if they are to survive emotionally. But if all such activity is to be coldly clinical without compassion or sense of service, the outlook is bleak. Sentimentality is certainly not wanted. But a human approach and humane motivation cannot be discarded without ultimate loss.

The best of men of every age, and certainly the Christian doctor, will surely agree with Michael Faraday, scientific genius and humble Christian: 'It is not he who has soared above his fellow creatures in power, it is not he who can command most readily the pampering couch or the costly luxury; but it is he who has done most good to his fellows, he who has directed them in the doubtful moment, strengthened them in the weak moment, aided them in the moment of necessity, and enlightened them in their ignorance that leads the ranks of mankind'.

In quoting Faraday's words during a Lister Centenary Address in 1967, Arnold Aldis put the matter plainly -- at least as the doctor of Christian persuasion must face it -- when he said that 'all men are the objects of God's love and our responsive love for God must issue in love for our fellow-men. Indeed to fail to treat our patients at this deepest level is to add to the dehumanising of man. For it is to treat him as less than human, an object to be treated rather than a person to be helped'. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men (Gal 6:10).

Lord Jesus, I know that in your earthly ministry
you went about doing good.
Help me to follow in your steps.