Last night I attended the opening service for the 2012 South Carolina Church of God Campmeeting. What made is especially special to me was that the Sounds of Praise (the FMCOG choir for all you “non-PEPpers) sang. These same people had earlier sang at our local church – many in both services – and then had eaten a hurried lunch and made their way two hours up the road to get ready for the evening service.
I thought about these dear people as the service approached the 8:00 p.m. hour with no apparent prospects of finishing anytime some. Knowing that they had that same two-hour trek waiting on them to get back to their homes and bed, and knowing that most of them would have to get up early this morning to go to work, I thought to myself, “Was it really worth it?”
Then today I attended a funeral service in honor of one my member’s mother. At that funeral was a couple from our church that had made the trip to be there. Why do that? In the big scheme of things, did it really matter?
I could give many more examples of people doing little good deeds that in the big scheme of things will good unnoticed by most of the world. Why do this? Is it really worth it?
Historians tell us that the Chinese had a very devious way of executing especially bad criminals. It was called “Death by a Thousand Cuts.” The executioner would inflict hundreds of little cuts to the person so that they slowly bled to death.
Using that same idea (except in just the opposite way), every time you perform a good deed it leaves it mark; if not on the person it was intended for, at least on you. Little by little as you choose to give of yourself and be a blessing to others, you are shaped and molded into a better person.
Think about this the next time you see someone who has lived many years and the “lines have to fallen to them in pleasant places” (Psalms 16:6), be assured that behind that pleasant and dear elder is a long line of countless, “under-the-radar” good deeds. In other words, they have gained life by a thousand deposits.
So was it worth it for the Sounds of Praise to make that effort yesterday? Why yes! Not only did their effort bless me and a couple thousand more people, it also made a little “life deposit” in them.
So dear one, keep up the good work – you’re looking better every day.
The ONE THING 