Just do it!

Luke 14:1-6

One Sabbath as he was in the home of a member of the Jewish Council, the Pharisees were watching him like hawks to see if he would heal a man who was present who was suffering from dropsy. Jesus said to the Pharisees and legal experts standing around, “Is it against the Law to heal a man on the Sabbath day, yes or no?” And when they refused to answer, Jesus took the sick man by the hand and healed him and sent him away. Then he turned to them: “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath?” he asked. “If your cow falls into a pit, don’t you proceed at once to get it out?” Again they had no answer.

Food for thought!

Is it against the law to...? This is the question Jesus made and makes. As we now know, Jesus teaches us by his words and by his works. Yesterday Herod the king wanted to stop Jesus in his purpose and mission. Today, it is another kind of people: the Pharisees and legal experts. If yesterday it was politicians, today it is the religious people. These people, just like yesterday, did not and could not stop Jesus doing good.

Jesus simply took the sick man by the hand and healed him and sent him away. In other words, nobody should ever stop us from doing good; just do it; there is no Law of God that tells us not to do good to the needy. “Love is above the laws, above the opinion of men; it is the truth, the flame, the pure element, the primary idea of the moral world.” — Madam de Stael

Have you ever noticed that some of the most difficult resistance can come from the people closest to you? Longtime friends, trusted colleagues, and even family members can be the first people to discourage you when you begin to tell them about the decisions you’re making for God. This is what happened to Jesus. The people who criticized him most were not pagans nor atheists but fellow Jews, the Pharisees, Scribes, and religions scholars.

The gospel says, "the Pharisees were watching him like hawks to see if he would heal a man who was present who was suffering from dropsy." Jesus was being watched. Is he going to back down and not do the healing in respect to the opinion of his critics or he is going to ignore them and do the healing anyway? What would you do? What do you do in similar circumstances?

As Joyce Meyer says, ''One of the most important things you can do in life is let go of your need to please people. Trying to please others and trying to meet their expectations will cause you to live the life they want you to live and miss the life that God wants you to live. There is no joy in that, only bondage. Rather than trying to please others, live your life to please God. Colossians 1: 10 says: “That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things.” This is where you will find rest and peace for your soul. If you want to experience the life-changing joy of the Lord, let go of the unrealistic expectations of others and live for God each day."

Don’t allow the negative opinion of others to hold you back from doing and being good. Live your life to please God. His opinion is the only one that counts.