Weekly Grind - Do No Harm

In the course of following and strengthening their own faith, John
Wesley and his brother Charles came to some great understandings of what God
wants for us. They were significantly gifted as a writers and preachers,
giving them the ability to communicate these understandings to people for
hundreds of years. There are many books and websites that contain various
collections of their writings, hymns, and sermons. One of the most popular
as of late is a small book, "Three Simple Rules" by Reuben Job
which simplifies part of John and Charles Wesley's "The Nature,Design, and
General Rules of Our United Societies" and is generally summed up as 1) Do
no harm, 2) Do good, 3) Stay in love with God. The Wesley's give
significantly more specific guidance than that:
*
First:
By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is
most generally practiced, such as:
*The taking of the name of God in vain.
The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or
by buying or selling.
Drunkenness: buying or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless
in cases of extreme necessity.
Slaveholding; buying or selling slaves.
Fighting, quarreling, brawling, brother going to law with brother; returning
evil for evil, or railing for railing; the using many words in buying or
selling.
The buying or selling goods that have not paid the duty.
The giving or taking things on usuryi.e., unlawful interest.
Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; particularly speaking evil of
magistrates or of ministers.
Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us.
Doing what we know is not for the glory of God, as:
The putting on of gold and costly apparel.
The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The singing those songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the
knowledge or love of God.
Softness and needless self-indulgence.
Laying up treasure upon earth.
Borrowing without a probability of paying; or taking up goods without a
probability of paying for them.
It is a fairly easy thing for us to live our lives and simply take
for granted that we are following God's will. But I think with a honest look
at this first step we can quickly see that we have some obvious areas of our
lives to give some spiritual attention. We do, perhaps, live in a much more
complicated world than John and Charles Wesley. But should that
reasoning allow us to stray further from what God wants for our lives, or
should it draw us closer to Him. Should we ignore the example of Christ
because we are too busy or have too much stuff? Jesus told us to cut off our
hand or pluck out our eye before we let anything get in the way of God. It
seems like it would be a lot less painful to change some behavior that to
start actually severing body parts.
There is some interest in observing that many of the specific items
in "doing no harm" here affect us as individuals. A way of rationalizing our
behavior sometimes might be that "I'm not hurting anyone else." God sees us
first before He looks at how we treat others, He doesn't want us working
against ourselves. God loves us, expects us to love ourselves, and calls us
to love others. We may not have read or understand everything that God has
shared with us, but we can take a simple step and see how it goes.

Be Blessed!
Michael