3 Ways to Do Good In Our Everyday Lives

We see people suffering because they lack a home or money. We hear of children victimized for the pleasure or profit of others. We notice the needs in our city, yet if we’re honest with ourselves, our resources feel limited and small. We don’t know where to start and what difference we can make. How do we fit one more thing into an already packed schedule when grocery shopping and getting the laundry done takes our last block of free time?

So how do we reconcile the heaviness of a broken world with the responsibility we have — as well as the desire in us — to do good? Maybe it starts with figuring out where both our responsibility and desire to do good come from in the first place.

WHY WE WANT TO DO GOOD

Many of us are keenly aware of the world’s sufferings because we have a desire to do good. At RADIANT, we think that desire comes from a powerful place, created to be a part of us. That desire is how God made us, made you. We were made to do and be good by a Creator we believe is good.

The destruction and brokenness we see was not God’s intent or desire. He made the world to flourish. He created people to thrive through a relationship with him. He doesn’t want the unmet needs in our world to stay this way.

He’s all about restoration — restoring things to the way they were designed. Think about your desire for beauty, health, peace, and love. They are a natural outflow of the image of God stamped on you, an innate desire for wholeness.

He also created uniqueness in each one of us so we can play a role in caring for and restoring beauty to our planet, especially to the people in it. He calls our uniqueness “poetry” (check out this verse!) It’s our special design for specific good works which contribute to fulfilling our destiny.

WHAT WE CAN DO

Every act to someone in need has an impact. Caring for our planet is essential. And there are ways we, using our unique design, can do good every day.

DOING GOOD IN THE WORKPLACE:

We can do good in our work through honesty, integrity, and working to our potential. We can show up each day to further the company’s mission while promoting the goals of our co-workers as well as our own. No job is too insignificant!

DOING GOOD TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS:

Sometimes the closest relationships are the most challenging, because they go the deepest. Daily we have the opportunity to consider what our closest friends and family need and how we can best love them, right where they are. Sometimes it’s nothing more than getting out of our head and considering life, both the big things and small details, from their perspective.

DOING GOOD AT A PLACE NEAR YOU:

Find a place near you and do what you can.

I recently volunteered at the Bowery Mission’s Clothes Closet. The lobby area filled with people as volunteers organized bins of donated clothes. When the doors opened, Alice — wearing a sweater too warm for the weather and shoes long past their prime — approached our door. “What can we help you find today?” I asked. “A skirt for a job interview and maybe a blouse that would be cooler, but work with the skirt as well,” she replied.

Alice and the other clients who followed were able to get new clothes and the Bowery's volunteers were able to meet needs. But more importantly, the atmosphere was filled with more love and respect than might ever be found in the aisles of Bergdorf Goodman.

We were made to bring beauty and renewed life to the people and places right where we are. It simply takes the eyes to see and the faith to believe that you are made by a good God to do good in a world that needs it!

How can you do good in your everyday life?