Doing Good on the Sabbath - a message where Jesus shows that sometimes you must go against the norm to do "good"

Last night we were at my in-laws house and my son, a four-year old, was trying to help out by bringing a table back into the living room but in the meantime, knocked off a removable top. He was going through an opening that was too narrow for the top to fit through and the top just slid off.

After going over to check it out, I simply informed him that it was too narrow. He wasn't at all in trouble for what he was trying to do, but if he went much further, he might have done some damage. As a result, he started sobbing. I picked him up to try to talk to him because I had already informed him that he was not in trouble because he didn't do anything wrong. My thought was that he was embarrassed, but I learned, at bed time (after revisiting the subject) he confessed that he had thought he broke the table and felt bad.

I had failed to communicate about the fact that the top could come off and simply telling him that he wasn't in trouble did not satisfy his guilt. After learning about the table I think he felt better though he did ask why the table top could come off. Which I explained.

That just made me think about how our life may a reflection of trying to do good but end up doing something bad. Sometimes the "bad" part of it is unintentional, similar to Jesus who is intending to heal a man's hand which is shriveled. However, because He chooses to do it on this day, a Sabbath, it brings about a confrontation with the Pharisees. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week's lesson in Matthew 12:9-21...

• Look ~ Keep on the lookout for ways in which your talents and passions will enable you to do to good for someone else whom you can do "good" to.
• Be Bold ~ When you are trying to do good to someone else, make sure that you enter into with confidence and boldness. After all, you are doing it for "good" so be confident with that approach.
• Choose Him Over You ~ It can be easy to give in to outside pressures to do a good thing. Jesus could have stopped, but He chose to lay down and receive a name like them.

As you go about life, may this passage of Scripture inspire you to keep going doing the things that are "good" even when outside influences may curb you from doing hte job. Keep going!

Now it's your turn...when have you had a time when doing good seemed like it was a "bad" choice? Also, any other situation that resembled this verse.