Do the Good you should be doing

one

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus.

He began by preaching “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Repent because Jesus is ready to come into our lives – but we are preventing him.

So all the people asked him, “What must we do, then?”

John answered, “’If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, 'Master, what must we do?' He said to them, 'Exact no more than your rate'. Some soldiers asked him in their turn, 'What about us? What must we do?' He said to them, 'No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!'”

If we really want Jesus to transform us, then John tells us we must do three things: do the good you should do; stop doing evil you are doing; and remove the sources of your temptation.

two

The First step is to Do the Good you should be doing

Love is to do some good for someone: first, God, then others, and finally yourself.

But what good does God want? He wants friendship with you, to be in relationship with you. So, the most direct way to love God and do good for him is by prayer. Prayer is friendship with God. And friendship takes time talking, listening and just being together. 

We all know that to have a good conversation with a friend takes a minimum of 20-30 minutes.

So the first good we should do is commit to daily meditation or mental prayer in the Rosary, as we are now, or reading and reflecting on something from the Word of God in silence.

If you will give God 20-30 minutes of attention in silence, He will speak with you and then you will be friends.

three

The second Step is to love and do good for others and for oneself.

Like God, loving and doing good for others begins with a relationship or friendship. Only after we have spent time together, once I get to know you, understand you, only then will I know what you need so that I may care for you.

Yes people have physical needs. But one of the greatest poverties today is that of loneliness and isolation. Especially among people we live with.

Therefore, the most important way to love others is to spend time in friendship. Spouses need to spend time each day. Family and a small group of friends at least once a week. Sunday is the God given day for this.

We love ourselves by doing good for oneself.

We need a healthy amount of sleep, healthy real food and drink (not just a constant diet of the processed stuff) as well as exercise and recreation.

We need the good of family and friendship.

We also desire and need to grow in knowledge of God, his plan for the world, but also knowledge of the world around us.

And our soul needs to be nourished by beauty in its various forms: nature, art, literature, music, a game well executed.

God designed the human person to need specific good things to be fulfilled and happy. Physical goods, friendship, achievement, knowledge and beauty and union with God.

four

We must do good and stop doing evil

What are those things that prevent you from spending time in friendship with God, with others and what prevents you from pursuing the good things we need to be happy? The things that prevent us from loving God and others is sin. Stop it.

Prioritizing TV shows, Tik Tok, Instagram, You Tube, Reddit, Sports, News, News and sports shows, analysts and commentators and podcasts and social media, and games, video games, candy crush…on and on.

These things are killing friendship with God and friendship with others. Stop putting entertainment before relationship.

five

Remove the Near Occasion of Sin

Temptation and sin are nearly always linked to particular situations. Sinful behavior and addiction are largely environmental. If you put folks in a certain environment, they’re almost certain to give in to their temptation. But if you remove them from that environment, the intensity of their temptations – and their likelihood of giving into it – goes way down.

Identify your habits of sin, then remove the things from your environment that trigger the sin. Or remove yourself from them.

Jesus said: If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell.  And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.