p. 146 | Be and Do

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 5, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 10.

Be and Do.

THERE is a great difference between being good and doing good. Some people suppose that if a man will only do good he is certain to be good. But a man may do a great many good things and still lack the element of goodness within. He may do them to be seen of men, or to deceive people; to obtain a reputation, and secure large opportunities for the commission of crime; and so his well-doing may prove only a cloak for all iniquity.

The divine order is not first do and then be, but first be and then do. The fountain is to be made sweet, and then the waters may be expected to be pure. The tree must be made good, and then the fruit will not be corrupt. The beginning of all legitimate reformation and righteousness must be in the grace and power of God, through whom we are born again, or created anew in Christ Jesus, and thus prepared for service in Christ’s cause.

We are not to wait until after we have done many good things, and then expect we shall become good as a result of our actions; but we are rather to go just as we are to Jesus, the Saviour of the lost, to God, who loves and pities perishing men; and, having done this, and having been renewed in the spirit of our minds, we are then prepared for the Master’s service, and for all well-doing which he may require of us.—Sel.