“In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 11:6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One of life’s great discouragements is the thought that it “won’t do any good” to do what we are thinking of doing. In some situations, we can’t decide which of two actions would be the most effective. At other times, it looks as if nothing we might try to do would make any difference. So we do nothing.<\/p>\n
But too often, our decision process is the reverse of what it should be. Rather than deciding up front what is right to do, based on timeless principles, we try to predict the result of an action, and then define what is “right: in terms of what we think will “work” the best. More often than we’d care to admit, we adopt the philosophy of “utilitarianism,” the idea that the value of an action is determined by its utility or usefulness. If it looks like it “won’t do any good” then we think nothing more needs to be said.<\/p>\n
But in fact, there is a good deal more that needs to be said. What is right is right, whether we think it’s “useful” or not. And not only that, it is often honorable to begin a work even when no hope has been vouchsafed to us that we will be able to finish it.<\/p>\n
The “crystal ball” is a notoriously unreliable device, and none of us has one that works very well. As creatures unable to see more than a few hours ahead, we are poor prognosticators. Even our best and most carefully considered predictions often turn out to be wrong. To be more specific, things that were right to do often turn out to do more good than we could have ever anticipated.<\/p>\n
So we should just put away our forecasts and predictions and go ahead and do whatever is the best thing we’re capable of doing at any moment. We must be guided by conscience and the knowledge that it always “does good to do good” whether we can see how it’s going to happen or not. The advice of Ecclesiastes 11:1 is mighty good counsel: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.<\/em>” If we will keep busy doing the best we know to do, we need not doubt that good will come of it.<\/p>\n
“It is for us to make the effort. The result is always in God’s hands.” (Mahatma Gandhi).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gary Henry Reaching Forward 31 October 2012 “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). One of life’s great discouragements is the thought that it “won’t…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[763,38],"class_list":["post-56766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-decisions","tag-morality"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-acts-17-approach-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":56766,"position":0},"title":"The Acts 17 Approach to God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Acts 17 provides a framework for some basic understanding of God. Think especially about the phrase in verse 25: \"as though He needed anything.\" In that phrase is found the essence of who God is. God needs nothing more to be complete or to function with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/anything-worth-doing-is-worth-doing-badly\/","url_meta":{"origin":56766,"position":1},"title":"Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Badly","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Henry via\u00a0WordPoints.com When God wanted Moses to go deliver Israel, Moses demurred with objections that may have been intended to sound humble: \"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?\" (Exodus 3:11), \"I am slow of speech and slow of tongue\" (Exodus 4:10), etc. When the one-talent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","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\/2009\/04\/Gebhard-Fugel-Moses-vor-dem-brennenden-Dornbusch-c1920-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84951,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christians-and-bankruptcy\/","url_meta":{"origin":56766,"position":2},"title":"Christians and Bankruptcy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Art Cornell via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 On a recent visit to the Chapallear's home, I told Floyd I was working for a bankruptcy judge. He asked me whether I thought a Christian could file for bankruptcy. I thought for a moment and replied\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-name-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":56766,"position":3},"title":"The “Name” of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Smitherman via Plain Talk, July 1983 Jesus has a \"name\" that is above every other name (Ephesians 1:21;\u00a0Philippians 2:9) but that \"name\" is not just an arrangement of letters to spell that word: J-E-S-U-S is not this name. It is much more than a title or designation. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41846,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/stillness-and-joy\/","url_meta":{"origin":56766,"position":4},"title":"Stillness and Joy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Henry \"Be still, and know that I am God\" (Psalms 46:10). Nowadays, one reason we know so little about joy is that we know so little about stillness. In this age of the world, most of us are busy with a myriad of priorities and projects. And we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hiring-a-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":56766,"position":5},"title":"Hiring a Preacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chapellear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 1, March 31, 1990 When the Lord sent the seventy, He provided for their financial care. Those who were taught the word were to provide for the needs of those who did the teaching. 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