Proverbs 3:27-28 says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you<\/em>.”<\/p>\n The verses make it clear that certain people deserve our assistance. Therefore, we should give help “to whom it is due.”<\/p>\n We also see that it is essential not only to do good, but to do good toward others in a timely fashion. Procrastinating in doing good for others may mean a kind act never happens, or it may cause recipients to suffer unnecessarily because they do not get help in a reasonable time. The Greeks had an adage: “A slow-paced favor is a flavorless favor.”<\/p>\n In Luke 10:29-36, we read the story of the Good Samaritan. A man was beaten, robbed, and left half-dead in the story. A priest and a Levite saw him in that condition and passed by without assisting him. Next, a Samaritan passed by, and he immediately helped the beaten man. He helped him with both his time and his money. Of what value would it have been to the man on the side of the road if the Samaritan had said, “Maybe I’ll help this poor man on my way back”? The man could have been dead by then, and indeed his suffering would have continued.<\/p>\n Galatians 6:10 tells us, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith<\/em>.” “Doing good” is broad; it is an individual responsibility for each Christian. We can “do good” to others in many ways. For example, we can send cards to sick or grieving people and, if necessary, bring them food. We can visit lonely older people and sick people in the hospital who might need encouragement. We can also provide rides to services for those who need them; give money to people in need or to a good cause; and encourage those who are spiritually weak. A list of “doing good” can go on and on. It seems, though, that one of the biggest obstacles we face in fulfilling this responsibility is procrastination. People often intend to help others, but they never seem to follow through. The intent is there, but the “favors” are too slow in coming. Procrastination has been called “the grave in which we bury opportunities.”<\/p>\n In Matthew 25:34-36, Jesus revealed what things would be like on Judgment Day. The King would say to those on the right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me<\/em>.” The righteous will then ask Jesus when they had done these things for him. Jesus explained (Matthew 25:40), “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me<\/em>.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Those approved by Jesus did not merely think about doing these good deeds; they did not make soon-forgotten plans. If they had, Jesus would have grouped them with the unrighteous in this chapter who will, at the Judgment Day, be cast into the lake of fire (V. 41).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many are guilty of not helping others at all. But as the verse in Proverbs tells us, when there is a legitimate need, we must not only help the person, but we must do so in a timely way. Delay may result in an unnecessary extension of suffering or in a person not receiving any help at all. Just thinking about helping is not good enough.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Mike Johnson via\u00a0Seeking Things Above Proverbs 3:27-28 says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you.” The…<\/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":[1543],"class_list":["post-97630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-good-works"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13490,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-sinful-to-download-movies-or-songs-from-the-internet\/","url_meta":{"origin":97630,"position":0},"title":"Is it sinful to download movies or songs from the Internet?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Like many people, I download movies and music and I was just wondering if that is considered stealing and therefore is a sin? Answer: Just because someone makes a movie or song available on the Internet, it does not imply that they had the right to do so. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46558,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-giving-a-gift-to-a-well-placed-friend-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":97630,"position":1},"title":"Is giving a gift to a well-placed friend wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know more about bribes, If we know some people in control, like a chief or head of a department, and we are friendly with them, perhaps sometimes giving a gift or support at a time of need, such as a sick family member, and that person\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30084,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-ask-for-lent-money-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":97630,"position":2},"title":"Is it wrong to ask for lent money back?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have lent money to some people in my workplace. Is it right to ask it back because in doing so I have to be firm, and when they don't return it I get weird ideas about them? Basically, my question is whether it is a sin to ask\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-have-much-so-what-do-i-do-with-my-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":97630,"position":3},"title":"I don’t have much, so what do I do with my money?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have very little money and this is a rare opportunity to spend it on much-needed personal items. Or should I spend my money on a poor person, giving them all of it? Or should I pay my sister all of it because I owe her quite a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52364,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-do-good-when-you-live-in-a-dangerous-country\/","url_meta":{"origin":97630,"position":4},"title":"How do you do good when you live in a dangerous country?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a member of a church of Christ and have been continuously blessed by the spiritual resources on your website. May God continue to provide you with the effort to keep this work going. Amen. You will be surprised how many people around the globe with good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-eye-exam\/","url_meta":{"origin":97630,"position":5},"title":"An Eye Exam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Luke 11:34-36 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is an old saying that bad things come in threes and to a lot of people this appears to be a true statement \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Life is filled with good and bad events \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But what happens is that when something bad happens, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97630","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=97630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}