Our Own Good

Sometimes we do things for no other reason than for our own good. We don’t have to justify it to anyone because we think it’s the right and best thing to do. We don’t expect someone else to know better, and in a sense we don’t really care what they think.

Have you ever gone on a diet? Not because you were advised by a doctor, but because you thought you needed to shed a few pounds? What about giving up some sweet things, or bread, or starch, or fat? Something that you would benefit from and could see the difference in your waistline? What about cigarettes? We now know that nicotine is highly addictive, so what if we decide to do ourselves some good and cut down or even take all the help available to quit? It even has a spin off to our children and grandchildren who now don’t have to inhale our second hand smoke. Then there’s alcohol. Do you know, or have you ever been close to an alcoholic? One who will spend his or her last penny in the pub, while the kids at home go hungry? Do you think it’s a good thing for that person to do something for their own good? Ask anyone who has lived in a home alongside an alcoholic husband, wife, son or even daughter.

There are fifty two weeks in the year, but some would suggest that you can only do these good things within forty six of those weeks. The other six are out of bounds. Why? Because they are the Lenten weeks in the run up to Resurrection Sunday. If we do anything for our own good and those near to us in these six weeks, and you are a Protestant Christian who believes in the Reformation, somehow we are seen as having sold out to Catholicism by taking part in one of their rituals of giving something up.

I would suggest any of these actions taken for our own good, even during Lent, should be seen as a benefit, and certainly would not affect our standing before God, who after all is the only one who knows our heart, and when and why we are doing this small piece of personal good to and for our own body, and that of others around us whether it is Lent or not!

You want to do some good for yourself, or your family? Then don’t check the calendar first!