Three Simple Rules- Do Good!

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

As we are looking at John Wesley’s Three Simple Rules (Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God), this week’s rule is “Do Good.” “Doing Good” is one step further than doing no harm. In order to do good, not only do we avoid doing the bad, but we take action. We live with intention, going out of our way to brighten someone’s day with a smile, conserve water by taking shorter showers, or give money to a cause in which we believe.

As I looked at this rule with the RTC kids in Little Rock this week, we used John 13, where Christ washed the disciples’ feet. After a discussion about doing good, we then gave the kids a chance to have their feet washed, and in turn, wash the feet of their peers. (This went about how you are imagining it—some kids chose to actively NOT participate, some sat quietly, and some hopped up and got involved.) After some giggling, and once they got over the awkwardness, though, we had a great discussion about what it means to truly serve others, why it requires that you put yourself second, and how we practically go about doing that.

We closed with an activity in which the kids lined out their schedules for the day, and planned in some ways that they could do good. Some examples they gave included turning off the water while they brushed their teeth, helping with dishes after a meal, and giving their peers encouragement during recreational therapy. While no one really struggled to give examples of ways in which they could do good, I suspect the challenge will come in their attempt to really live this out on a daily basis.

However, I feel like it’s the same for us, but maybe even more so. As adults, we know what we should do. We know that it’s important to put the needs of others above our own, and we have Christ’s perfect example to follow. It’s the “DOING” of the good, though-- the denying of what we want, the forgiving when we feel its not deserved, the sacrificing of our money to help someone else, the continuing of a conversation when we are tired of listening and want to walk away—that’s what trips us up. Or, at least, that’s what trips me up. I understand, I know what to do and how to do it, it’s just not always fun to put myself second. And it’s not even always. It’s ever. It’s pretty much NEVER fun to put myself second.

But, if I say I’m a Christian, and that I want to follow Christ, and do what He did, this is what is required. Maybe not in every instance, every day; but in a lot of instances. We should be ready to give, ready to sacrifice our wants, ready to do the hard thing, ready to be inconvenienced. Verse 17 reminds us that now that we know these things, it’s time to start living them.

My challenge for us today is the same as the one I gave the kids this week. Find one *new* good thing that you can do every day this week. Find a way to bless your family, a co-worker, or a client that you serve. Decide, in at least that instance, to put yourself second, and to see others as more important than yourself. In the doing of good, Christ tells us that we will be blessed.