NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!
Friday after Ash Wednesday
My dear encountered couples:
Isaiah makes fasting sound not only like a negative act of giving up something but a positive act of doing something. Here is what Isaiah wrote that God told him: “This is the fasting I wish: Releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed..., sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”
We are all very busy, aren’t we? We hardly have time to do the things necessary to run our own lives responsibly, without getting involved in the lives of others. It doesn’t inconvenience us too much to fast during Lent.
But the time, the energy, the expense of doing things for others can cause great problems. And there’s a touch of truth in what someone once cynically said, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Do something good for somebody and God only knows all the trouble we might bring upon ourselves. Just take a look at all the good God did. He created us and gave us this wonderful world. It’s obvious all the problems we continually give him for his act of kindness. Jesus did nothing but good deeds. He got punished for it. We crucified him.
Yes, we are busy. Good deeds for others take time, energy, and might cause us big problems. But that’s life, that’s Christianity, that’s the way of God. And we are supposed to imitate him. Enjoy Lent! It’s a time for really learning how to love.
