Do Not Grow Weary – Uses of the Law: To Guide Us in Doing Good (4)

Do Not Grow Weary

Uses of the Law: To Guide Us in Doing Good (4)

And let us not grow weary of doing good.… Galatians 6:9

We have been redeemed to do good works. The Law of God defines, explains, and illustrates the form those good works should take. God has prepared these good works for us beforehand, that we might walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Walking in good works suggests a way of life, a life devoted to paying attention to others, sensing their needs, and reaching out, according to the Law and Word of God, to show the love of God to others in concrete, specific ways.

It is significant that Jesus, when describing His followers in terms of good works, used a metaphor and not a simile. We are not “like” salt, we “are” salt. The metaphor is much stronger and suggests a manner of being-in-the-world to be attained, rather than an occasional activity to undertake. We might on occasion, as prompted by a particular situation, give an offering above our normal tithes in order to meet some specific need. But we must live for good works and be defined by them from the inside out.

This might sound like a rather wearying way of life. But Paul says we must not grow weary of doing good. If we truly are good, formed in mind, heart, and conscience by the Law and Spirit of God, then we will not be able to help ourselves from doing good. Good works flow from good souls, and good souls are formed in the forge of God’s Law and Word under the steady breath and shaping anvil of the Holy Spirit.

The only way not to grow weary in doing good works is to be ourselves so much of the essence of goodness that doing good is all we can do.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.