However you want to use Ms. Luce's quote the result remains the same. Try to do good and it will bite you in the butt. While the speed limit is written in word and law as well as displayed on the sign at the side of the road, it's the law. We, as people, are supposed to obey the laws of the land. However, like Murphy, this law, "No good deed goes unpunished." surely exists just as the stop sign we drive up to. Most people have heard Murphy blamed for everything in their life or the lives of those around them. "No good deed goes unpunished." seem to follow us around just waiting to drop the guillotine on our unsuspecting necks. While we intend something good to happen and even try to make sure that good something happens, our good deed giving gets punished. Now I'm not saying this happens in every good deed. No, there are many good things we do that are well received.
Point. While a pastor of a rural church in Minnesota I encountered an elderly man whom I visited with from time to time. I learned that his girlfriend was not doing very well and was in the hospital. He asked for prayer for her. I did so right on the spot and continued for the next week. When he failed to come to church on Sunday I decided to drop in on him and see how he was doing. He told me that he didn't need to go to church or believe in God anymore. His rationalizing was founded in his statement: "Your prayer didn't work and she died." No good deed goes unpunished. Eventually he did return to church for which I was grateful. People misinterpret events that go on in their lives and draw conclusions that just aren't there.
From the vast storage of mistakes I have made through my 61 years, there are lots of examples where I've intended the best that ended up backfiring on me. I'm sure there are some of these events in others lives as well. So, what do we do? Don't stop doing good! The world we live in needs all the good we can bring about. Yes, sometimes our good turns out to not be what others think of good. Don't stop doing good! That's our inclination though. If we were to stop doing good and everyone else stopped doing good. our world would be pretty depressing.
Sometimes when I am considering doing something I know to be true, I try to find ways to be an invisible conductor of the orchestra. Bringing about good where no one knows that the culprit is me. There is quite a bit of fun in that way of doing good. This anonymity gives us a means of absorbing the negative and letting it stay with me. Others won't know and I can shake the dust off my feet and go on. Being invisible gives me pause to remember times in my life where others have done the same to me. I have quite a number of these events sprinkled in my past. I still don't know who wanted to see me blessed but I thank them profusely. Regardless of the intention, the good that is done is still good and it's still done. Nothing I can do (or should do) to mitigate this event.
The Bible is full of individuals and groups who gave good caring only for the good of someone else. We have lost this habit to a significant point where we are sometimes are scared to try one more time. I'm glad that Jesus didn't stop. His good was tracked from his childhood to his death on the cross. The ultimate good deed (salvation) has been done. Yet so many reject his good deed. The only one who is punished though is themselves. To reject the free gift of God through his Son denies you and I the blessings of God. Even to eternal life. Don't stop doing good! Please!
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