Doing Good Anyway: Faithfulness Over Comfort

Yes, love still matters. Yes, compassion still matters. Yes, justice still matters because resurrection has already declared that cruelty does not get the final word. It's a crossroads. Today, how are we doing good anyway? How are we stepping in to love anyway, to show up anyway, to tell the truth anyway, to protect the vulnerable anyway, to refuse criticism anyway, to build a community anyway. Because the goal of our faith is not and it never has been comfort. The goal is transformation. And not just our transformation, but to transform the world, to transform where we live, to transform everything around us. [00:55:49] (69 seconds)  #LoveTransforms

If our beliefs do not move us toward people, then they are not moving us toward Jesus. Peter reminds the church that you're not alone in the struggle, that believers every know, everywhere know what it feels like to grow weary. And y'all sometimes I'm so weary that I'm just not sure what to do next. I'm overcome with not knowing what to do or how to do it or even what even to think about doing. Much less actually moving my feet and hands to do it. And yet, if love still matters and it does, we are called to do something. Goodness can survive in this harsh world. And the answer of the gospel tells us that. [00:54:37] (73 seconds)  #BeliefIntoAction

But Peter reminds us that the church in the church that doing good does not always lead to comfort. But it's always gonna lead us to Christ. That and that matters because suffering itself is not a holy act. Pain is not proof of faithfulness. God does not delight in people hurting. Jesus did not suffer because god wanted violence to come and cause Jesus to suffer. Jesus suffered because love threatened the empire. Jesus suffered because systems built on inclusion, on exclusion, because systems built on exclusion always resist liberation. [00:48:12] (55 seconds)  #FaithOverComfort

The goal has always been about becoming people who look so much like Jesus that even a world addicted to fear and division Even in that world, god's love breaks through. God's love breaks through through us. God's love breaks through in our actions. God's love breaks through in how we step in to do something. In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. [00:56:58] (61 seconds)  #BecomingLikeJesus

and the powers of the world pushed back on that. They pushed out back hard like kill you kinda hard. And in our scripture, Peter writes to people who were exhausted from living faithfully in a world that re rewarded cruelty more than compassion. And his words, I think, are still incredibly relevant relevant for us today. They hit home because we know what it feels like to do good and face resistance. At least I hope we know what it feels like to do good. Because if we're doing good in the world today, there's a good chance that somebody is pushing back on that. [00:46:38] (50 seconds)  #ResistedForGood

And you just keep stepping up to the plate. You just keep taking the field. You just keep believing that something good is gonna happen, that it's still possible. And until you're mathematically eliminated from the season, you still have a chance. And I think maybe Peter is trying to tell the church the same thing. Following Jesus isn't about comfort. It's about faithfulness. It's about continuing to do good even when the world is pushing back. Because doing good doesn't always lead to comfort. [00:43:22] (40 seconds)  #KeepShowingUp

Not that we get all this good stuff, but that everything that is happening to us works into something good. That doesn't mean that we get to coast. It doesn't mean that we get to prosper. It means that all of it comes together to make this collective good thing. I mean, we want to hold on to this idea that if we do the right thing, people will applaud us. And wouldn't that be nice, y'all? Wouldn't that be nice that we would do this one good thing and everybody would be like, look how good you did. [00:45:10] (49 seconds)  #CollectiveGoodWork

because sometimes You do this whole loving thing, right? We love on somebody, and you still get criticized. Sometimes you tell the truth, and people still get angry. Sometimes you stand up for the vulnerable, and instead of getting applause, you get resistance. Sometimes doing good doesn't lead to comfort at all. But that's where baseball players know that showing up every day for a 162 games of the year is about faithfulness. It's about continuing to show up. It's more than one inning. It's more than one play. It's more than one loss. [00:42:16] (54 seconds)  #FaithIsPersistence