The Bible teaches clearly of Jesus’ work while on the earth. Luke recorded, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10.38). Jesus went about making life better for people through His teachings and healings. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should be seeking to do the same everyday. We must keep Jesus in the forefront of our hearts as we go about seeking and saving the lost (Lk. 19.10). Are we attempting to better those in our midst?

In Luke 4.18, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61.1 which says, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed”. Jesus knew why He was upon the earth and made every moment count, to the glory and honor of God the Father. As Jesus would go and preach the word, He would perform miracles to confirm the very word He spoke (Mark 16.20). We must keep in mind the purpose of miracles and that is to confirm or validate the word of God (Heb. 2.1-4).

As Jesus journeyed across Galilee and Judea, He would come across people who would cry out to Him for aid and assistance. Jesus’ response to helping people on some occasions was amazing. Concerning the leper who wanted to be made clean He said, “I am willing” (Matt. 8.1-3). He went to Peter’s house to heal his mother in law (Matt. 8.14-15). The demon-possessed man who had a legion was healed and sent home to tell everyone the great things the Lord had done for him (Mark 5.1-20). He saw a widow whose son had died and He touched the casket and brought him back to life, after seeing the distress and tears of the mother (Lk. 7.13). We can go on and on with the examples of Jesus’ work in the land. His works should remind us of John’s words, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20.30-31).

Jesus made the lives of people better because God gave Him that responsibility and He took it seriously. What a blessing to know the works Jesus did was to create belief in Him being the Son of God. Jesus was not healing for random reasons. This should give us insight to Paul’s issue in 2 Corinthians 12.7-10. There was no reason for Jesus to remove the thorn from his flesh, he already knew He was the Son of God. Perhaps when we go about doing good for our fellow man, we can position God to be glorified through our good deeds (Matt. 5.13-16). Also, Paul told the Romans that the goodness of God leads people to repentance (Rom. 2.4). This should encourage us to look for opportunities to do good and not grow weary in doing well (Gal. 6.9).

Brethren, let’s do what we can to seek opportunities to help those in need. Let’s strive to have the mindset to make people better through our service to them. When our coworkers and associates are in need of prayer, we can take the time to pray with them at that moment. Perhaps we can also muster up the strength to ask strangers if they need anything or could use a word of encouragement and hope. We never know what may come out of simply asking people of their needs to make life a little better.

Finally, as we go about doing good, let’s encourage each other to do good (2 Thess. 3.13). We may never know the increase God will give to the congregation here in San Angelo, and we will be careful to turn around and give God the glory and honor. Let’s remain prayerful and poised to do God’s will and let us truly love each other enough to remind each other of the beauty of serving Christ and His beautiful kingdom. May the Lord continue to bless us in all we do as we strive to better people’s lives on a daily basis. Keep the faith and may the Lord give increase through our good works.