It has been said, over and over, and restated and restated, but it’s only… almost true.

The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing

But upon further evaluation,

It’s impossible for good men to do nothing.

I really thought about ending this post with that last remark because I love understating beautiful things, but I’m afraid that the implications of this remark are not altogether clear at first. I can safely say I had the wrong idea for a long time. I had the idea that since I was a good man, I should summon the courage to go out and do good, stop evil, and change the world, and that God wanted my participation in this. This was my mission…

And that’s half true, but half of a true course won’t get you to your destination. He does want my participation…but I was missing a key concept. Seeking Gods kingdom first and His righteousness isn’t about social reform, nor some great mission to see souls saved, nor even about showing kindness to a stranger. It’s about following the only man who is good, and doing what he asks. If you are near Him, He won’t fail to direct you to show kindness to strangers, see souls saved, or help in His cause to see society formed into His image, but the Messiah is patient, and not all of this will happen as soon as I want it to.

In my lifetime, I expect to see persecution for bearing Christs name. I expect the temptation I’m facing in my own life will only get stronger, BUT, As I get closer to Him and His desires, those other desires will become less important, and growing in the fruits of the Spirit, I will find it true that

It’s impossible for good men to do nothing.

Again, I just wanted to stop there but couldn’t. You see, I feel I must explain my reason for writing this. It isn’t because I didn’t know all of this.

It’s because I know and forget so often. The Holy One keeps showing me the same things over and over, and I get it for a while, then I get distracted from pursuing Christ and I fall into accomplishing nothing. Then, at some point I convince myself that I need to pick myself up by my bootstraps and get something done for the Lord. Then he lays on me the obviousness of my dependency on Him, and I can only hope that I remember longer next time. So, this post is as much for my sake as all you who read it at a later date. And for those of you who don’t follow Christ… You have no idea what you’re missing out on.