Doing Good

Titus 3:1-8 reminds us who have been justified by Jesus Christ through his grace to do a few things. Among them are:

• To be subject to rulers and authorities
• To be obedient
• To be ready to do what is good
• To slander no one
• To be peaceable and considerate
• To show true humility toward all men

Verse 8 caught my attention, where it says, "... so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good."

An interesting word in this verse is "careful". I used to think that when I read His word, pray to Him daily and serve in ministries, doing good will come automatically to me. I thought that my character would somehow be mysteriously transformed (either overnight or as time goes by) to do good. However, the phrase "be careful to" seems to imply that I am to take an active stance and consciously work to do good. If this particular phrase were omitted from this verse, do you think that it will make a difference to its meaning? As we tend to be careless and forgetful, the phrase "be careful to" tells me that by just praying in the morning to ask God for His guidance is inadequate. Just like in an exam, "be careful to" means I have to constantly remind myself to do good and double-check if I have missed out any opportunities to do good, or if I have committed the error of not doing good. Of course, not to mention, I should also learn from previous mistakes.