Evening, July 28
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
Acts 10:38
"Who went about doing good."
Acts 10:38
Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of a master's
pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it true in the
fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. "He went about doing
good." From this description it is evident that he did good personally.
The evangelists constantly tell us that he touched the leper with his
own finger, that he anointed the eyes of the blind, and that in cases
where he was asked to speak the word only at a distance, he did not
usually comply, but went himself to the sick bed, and there personally
wrought the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it
ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word, will
enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his soul; your
loving appeal will have more influence than a whole library of tracts.
Our Lord's mode of doing good sets forth his incessant activity! He did
not only the good which came close to hand, but he "went about" on his
errands of mercy. Throughout the whole land of Judea there was scarcely
a village or a hamlet which was not gladdened by the sight of him. How
this reproves the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors
serve the Lord. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary
in well doing. Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ went out of
his way to do good? "He went about doing good." He was never deterred
by danger or difficulty. He sought out the objects of his gracious
intentions. So must we. If old plans will not answer, we must try new
ones, for fresh experiments sometimes achieve more than regular
methods. Christ's perseverance, and the unity of his purpose, are also
hinted at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed
up in the words, "He hath left us an example that we should follow in
his steps."