Withhold Not Good

The title of this post comes from Proverbs 3. I've been studying it in my devotions this week. Sometimes I just take it as face value, like it's some Robert Fulghum sagacity, when really iit's fit for taking your time to mine out all the wisdom and there are two verses I've been trying to really get an imprint of on my mind and heart this week. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. (Prov 3: 27

Paraphrased, we have it in our power to do good, so we should not even blink before doing it. Easy enough.

Also! Where it says "them to whom it is due," my translation tells me that the Hebrew translates to "the owners thereof." Do you get that? When we share goodness with others, we're not really sharing it. Do we share something that belongs to someone else? No, we give it back. It belongs to someone else. So when we do good, when we pass along goodness, this verse says it is because we are indebted to do so to our brothers. That is, when we fail to do good, when we are passive, or even worse, when we are destructive, we are ultimately only neglecting or hurting ourselves. And further, if we are bound to Christ, we owe to Him all praise, and how does He require that we praise Him? By doing good to "the least of his brothers."

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I will continue with this reflection sometime soon.

In the meantime, Houston? We've got a ponytail sighting....