{"id":51243,"date":"2022-08-06T11:24:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T16:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=51243"},"modified":"2022-08-06T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T16:24:07","slug":"do-what-you-are-able-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-what-you-are-able-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Do What You Are Able to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Andy Sochor<\/p>\n<p>Those who are conscientious Christians will have a desire to do all that they can in service to God. And as we see the needs that exist around us, it is natural for us to want to provide help for all that we can.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hug-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>However, the reality is that we cannot provide all of the help that we may want to provide. No matter how diligent we are, there will always be more good works that we wish we could do. This can be discouraging, even though our hearts may be in the right place.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it is good to remember what the apostle Paul told the brethren in Corinth: &#8220;<em>For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have<\/em>&#8221; (II Corinthians 8:12). The context was about the Corinthians providing financial assistance to needy Christians in Jerusalem. However, the principle contained in this verse applies to us in various situations today.<\/p>\n<p>God wants us to be ready to do good and judges us based on our ability. In other words, we do not need to worry about what we cannot do; instead, we need to focus on what we can do.<\/p>\n<p>So do what you are able to do. We can surely think of many good things that we might desire to do in service to God or to help others. While we should strive to do all that we can, we also need to recognize our own limitations and simply focus on using our abilities to make the most of our opportunities.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Andy Sochor Those who are conscientious Christians will have a desire to do all that they can in service to God. And as we see the needs that exist around us, it is natural for us to want to provide help for all that we can. However, the reality is that we cannot provide&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,941,574],"class_list":["post-51243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-giving","tag-purpose","tag-service"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-require-giving-everything-you-have-to-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":51243,"position":0},"title":"Does God require giving everything you have to the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Sir, My question stems from a statement made by a minister regarding how we ought to give to God. He said that if we give all the money in our bank account, we will not starve, God will find a way to provide for us. This statement troubled my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88871,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-be-a-thief\/","url_meta":{"origin":51243,"position":1},"title":"Don&#8217;t Be a Thief!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson via\u00a0Seeking Things Above, Vol. 6 No. 2, May 2025 Ephesians 4:17-32 is one of many passages in the New Testament that describe the transformation that is supposed to occur when a person becomes a Christian. The Bible tells Christians to put off the old man, i.e., our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/thief-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36756,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/paying-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":51243,"position":2},"title":"Paying Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Never does anyone argue harder for something they won't actually take than Paul does in I Corinthians 9:3-14. Through much of his ministry, especially his time with the church in Corinth, Paul refused financial support from the church with which he was working. It may be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/payment-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":60458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-the-church-may-use-its-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":51243,"position":3},"title":"How the Church May Use Its Money","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor \"Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2272,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-become-perfect\/","url_meta":{"origin":51243,"position":4},"title":"Can we become perfect?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is perfection? Can we, as Christians, obtain perfection? If so, how do we obtain it? Answer: The Greek word translated as \"perfect\" is the word\u00a0teleion. It means something that is complete, perfect, whole, full-grown, ripe, mature, or adult. Thus, becoming perfect is just another way of saying you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-christians-growth-in-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":51243,"position":5},"title":"The Christian&#8217;s Growth in the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Thetford Once an individual puts on Christ in baptism, they should be determined to please God in all aspects of their life. But before one can begin to grow, one must first possess an attitude that says; \"I want to grow as a Christian in order to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/quietMoment.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}