A Simple, Small Act of Good
By Pastor Steve Peich
Proverbs 3:27 “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.
It has been good to hear of late that a vaccine might be developed soon that can help stem the tide of our modern plague. It has taken vast amounts of money and untold labor to achieve this task. However, not all things that can bring much help, hope, and healing requires such effort or investment. Sometimes a single, small act of good can really change the course of things.
Amid a cholera outbreak in mid-19th century London, as panicked residents fled one hard-hit neighborhood (Soho), a doctor named John Snow calmly entered the storm of illness. He deduced that the source of hundreds of deaths was a single contaminated water pump. In an effort to get people not to consume water from that pump, he persuaded authorities to remove the pump’s handle — a single, small strategy that ended the outbreak in that area.
Of the many simple things we can offer people, which is in “our power to act” on a regular basis, is an encouraging word. When I studied sports medicine in college, I learned how encouragement goes a long way in building confidence in an athlete and bringing out optimal performance. Ever since then, and especially with my family and with those whom I serve as a pastor, I would try to be generous and immediate with encouraging words. It continues to amaze me how something so simple changes a person’s day.
When you see something positive in a person, even a small something, that catches your attention this week, make it a spiritual discipline to speak a “good” word of encouragement to them as soon as you can. Don’t wait till a later time. More often than not, we never circle back around to do it. As the writer of Proverbs says, give the “good… while it is due.” You would be amazed how many people go through an entire week and never hear an encouraging word at work, school, home or even at church. The absence of such “good” words in a person’s life eventually starves the spirit and wears down our souls.
In my tenure as a pastor, I have long seen the ill-effects of the lack of this one simple thing. Husbands and wives who have ceased expressing regular words of appreciation. Parents who seem to only scan for what their kids are doing wrong. Supervisors or teachers who are miserly in their verbal encouragement, thus creating resentment and diminishing confidence in their workers and students, etc.
We may not ever cure a disease and help an entire neighborhood or nation, but we do have the “power to act” with an encouraging word in every sphere of our lives. And folks, trust me, that is a great power.
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to see small acts of goodness in those around me today. And open my heart to be generous and immediate with my words and attention. May they all hear You through me. To You be all the glory, amen.
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