Focus: James 4:17 – KJV
17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Acts 5:1-10
Doing good is quite simple. It is refraining from hurting anyone and conversely ensuring the joy of others. It simply boils down to showing love in all circumstances and ramifications. If man is able to achieve this, then is there no sin regarding such man. It is easy to hurt others without knowing the full impact of our actions. There are things done with greater impact than we imagine while doing them. For instance, Ananias and Sapphira had belongings. But the Church agreed to practice Communism. Hence, every member converted all they had to money and laid the proceeds at the Apostles’ feet. This couple took a thought for their security and held back part of the proceeds of the sale of their belongings. All they sought was security in case Communism failed. Yet their action was simply a refusal to do good and it was indeed a sin against God and the other brethren who did the correct thing, even if what they brought was far smaller. This is why, when people embezzle State funds in whatever guise, they do no good as they put other members of the State out of the benefit of the funds stolen. And when people are entrusted with Community or even Church funds and they craft up means that auditors cannot detect to divert the funds into their personal accounts, they do no good. Their actions impact on the other members of the Christian Community: schools and hospitals could have been built with the diverted funds, some poor missionaries on the field could have been assisted out of their hardship of spending blood to bring others to Christ.
Point is, even though the impact of the evil done by refusal to do good may not be too glaring to see, it remains evil and therefore a sin. And like we know, the wages of sin is death. Ananias and his wife died for not being faithful in putting in the proceeds of the sale of their assets; the young rich fool lost his soul for just mounting up goods unto himself and not countenancing the needy; even as Nabal lost his life for refusing to give to David and his team little to feed on.
SOLUTION: Whenever it appears to be evil, please abstain from doing it; and when it is good a thing to do but appears difficult to do based on some lust or quest to have it all, please ensure you do the good so that it is not a sin held against you.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, receive better than ever, the ability to decipher when it is good a thing to do and with it get the ability to do it. The Lord shall prevent you by all means and power from doing evil in any way in Jesus name. Live in love and show love always. It pays.