One More Before I Go To Bed

THE VARIOUS WAYS THAT GOOD DEEDS ARE PUNISHED


The cynical saying that "No good deed goes unpunished" is not
a verbatim quote from Scripture, but quite a few Biblical characters--
even besides Our Lord Himself--did find themselves being punished
precisely for doing good. Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Peter
and Paul come readily to mind. But it should hardly be necessary to
explain why they were abused and persecuted: evil, unrepentant men,
who were dedicated to wickedness because they enjoyed the selfish
pleasures wickedness brought them, were trying to silence truth, as
in the case of the corrupt Herod Antipas not wanting to be rebuked
by John the Baptist.
But more examination may be required to understand why doers
of good may be "punished" by persons who are NOT acting out of
a conscious and obstinate persistence in recognizable evil. Friends,
family members, fellow believers, and recipients of acts of mercy
all may "punish" a Christian who acts in good conscience--and they
may even think they are doing it for their target's good. So, allow
me to list, in no particular order, the occasions for "punishment."

1} A Christian--indeed, anyone acting upon even flesh-based
kindness--will often come up against astonishing ingratitude from
persons toward whom he or she has displayed generosity. This is
usually because those recipients, whether as individuals or as a
politically-correct victim-group, have learned to have an inflated
sense of entitlement. They feel that they already had a _right_ to
be given whatever help or benefit the generous person gave them,
so they owe that person no thanks or appreciation. They may even
have the attitude "You should have gotten here sooner and given
me more than this; what's wrong with you?"

2} If we do a good deed that someone else _ought_ to have
done and didn't do, even if we are unaware that this other person
was any part of the situation or had any power or duty to act, the
person who failed to act may feel that we are purposely trying to
shame and embarrass him or her. Now, it is true that we should
try to avoid intruding on someone else's territory carelessly; if
the need was not urgent, we should consider the possibility that
the "assigned" person might indeed have attended to it one hour
later if we had kept our noses out of the business. Unfortunate
misunderstandings in matters like this, even where neither party
started out with anything but good intentions, can devastate
friendships. But on the other hand, sometimes the need we see
IS urgent and can't wait for the expected person to intervene;
in that case, it becomes our duty to do the good deed at once,
and it's just too bad if someone else's feathers get ruffled.

3} Someone who is not evil, but who has a different opinion
about exactly _what_ good people should be doing, may perceive
your good deed as going in the wrong direction. For instance, a
perfectly genuine Christian, who simply has never sufficiently
thought through the consequences of making people passively
dependent on government, may look upon an opponent of big
welfare-state government as "having no compassion" and
"siding with the rich against the poor." The fact that liberal
Christians mean well does not make it hurt any less when they
impose caricatures of "right-wing neofascists" on those of us
who sound the alarm about central-government tyranny. Of
course, the liberals would be quick to retort indignantly that
_they_ are hurt by being stereotyped as associated with hard
Marxism; but although this of course also happens, the plain
fact is that present-day media outlets carry FAR MORE slurs
against conservatives than the reverse. (Just try to find _one_
recent action movie in which any large industrial corporation
is depicted as a _good_ thing!)

4} I recall a saying from C.S. Lewis: "Sometimes your only
reward for doing a good deed is to be called on to do a harder
and better one." If you do a good deed which is very costly to
you, and which you simply do not have the power to repeat at
frequent intervals, onlookers and associates may nonetheless
assume that the deed actually came easily for you--and so it's
perfectly all right for them to start demanding that you DO
keep repeating the action daily.

5} Some fellow believers will concoct reasons to claim that
your good deed was "unspiritual." The self-appointed piety
police will accuse you of "exalting yourself" or "trying to earn
salvation by works"--even if nothing of the sort ever crossed
your mind. If you run into difficulties, as doers of good usually
do, your critics will pounce like the false friends of Job, saying
that this is the Lord "showing" you that you're out of His will.

6} AAAAAAAAAAAND of course....the same God-hating
secular establishment which will call you a hypocrite if you
_aren't_ visibly doing good deeds....will call you self-righteous
if you _are_ doing them.


Nonetheless, I urge you in the words of Paul to the Galatian
church: "Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season
we will reap if we do not lose heart." If we wait to be active in
God's service until we feel sure that we will be appreciated and
will not be unjustly criticized, we might never get started.


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After this recent article was distributed by e-mail, one Christian lady who had seen it suggested another "punishment": people might tell you that the good deed you just did should have been done for someone else rather than the person you did it for.