Do Good to Everyone

 

Do you have any favorite songs? I am sure your parents and grandparents have favorite songs. You probably know them because they turn up the volume when the song comes on the car radio. Maybe they have a playlist of favorite songs on their phone.

Everyone has favorite songs. Since tomorrow is Independence Day, many Americans will sing our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” from memory. Baseball fans know “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” I am sure you can sing lots of Christmas songs by heart. And when it’s somebody’s birthday, everyone knows the words to “Happy Birthday.”

There is one song that Paul would have mentioned in our reading today (Galatians 6). That song is, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” It is a song about taking care of one another.

Paul encouraged Christians not get tired of doing good. He wrote, “Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Sometimes, it’s hard to do good to everyone in the church. When we start to think that I can’t do good to everyone, I need to think of Jesus, and what he did for me. Carrying the cross to his crucifixion was not easy to do for you and me, but he did it. That’s why St. Paul encouraged Christians to do good to everyone.

Is there someone in your life – family member, schoolmate, neighbor – who makes it difficult for you to do good for him or her? All of us have those people in our lives, but we must do good for them, especially if they are members of the church. When you think how hard it is to love someone, think of Paul’s words.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.