Cultivating a Christ-like heart posture
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”—Matthew 6:33
When Christians speak of being “a counterculture for the common good,” they often make an implicit assumption that we Christians are not doing enough already. It’s a fair assessment to make, for if the church was known, first and foremost, for taking care of the poor and working for the good of their fellow man, these conversations wouldn’t come up nearly as often as they do. But such conversations do come up, often led by well-meaning Christians who seek to call the church back to being salt and light, good samaritans, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Yet, these prophetic calls are most often left unanswered, forgotten, or outright dismissed by others. For every voice crying out in the wilderness there seems to be a thousand ears who hear such calls and think, “It can’t be all that bad.” To the average Christian, the call to work for the common good, which we so often hear today, seems an abstract (if not an impossible) task.
I want to suggest two reasons for why these conversations often fail to gain lasting traction:
First, whenever we inevitably fail to live up to our own standards, we are usually operating under the false deception that we’re not nearly as far off the mark as we actually are. The human mind isn’t often persuaded by direct arguments or confrontation, especially when a character flaw or personal deficiency is pointed out to us. That’s why Jesus often spoke in parables to his adversaries and why Nathan the Prophet confronted King David over his murder and adultery by telling him a story about sheep. A direct rebuke usually does not work, especially if one lacks the requisite sensibility that their actions are wrong.
Second, experience also teaches us that most desirable outcomes like happiness and contentment, peace and joy are unachievable by direct action. If we focus on our own fulfillment, it always eludes us. It is only in the pursuit of some higher good that we may finally realize our desires. This is exactly what C.S. Lewis sought to convey by his famous phrase, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
Both of these things ensure that calling people to work for the common good is a nearly futile endeavor. For one thing, it is likely that they will not listen to that call directly. The call will appear to be too abstract and it’s unlikely most people will feel personally implicated by such a tall task. For another, as desirable as the common good may be, it will always elude the one who focuses on it. If we seek first the kingdom of man, we will always be frustrated.
Does this mean that we ought to give up such pursuits altogether? No, but I do think it means that we’ve got to be wise in how we talk about such things. In particular, we’ve got to cultivate a true sensitivity to people’s needs before making calls to action.
More importantly, we’ve got to put first things first: to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we make “the common good” an end in itself, we will always be left disappointed. But if love of God is our ultimate end, then we will prioritize faithfulness to Him over everything else, and that love will overflow into other areas of our lives, including how we treat our fellow man.
We are constantly tempted to make our faith a means to an end. For some, the temptation is often to make faith an end to social action. For others, the temptation is often to make faith an end to church growth. Either way, something becomes compromised along the way: we lose our first love (Rev. 2:4). When that happens, all our efforts begin to come from the wrong place.
Social action or evangelism out of love for God is one thing, but social action and evangelism out of a sense of obligation is another. The first approach leads to joyful work, which is always rewarding, the second approach leads to dutiful work, which always leads to burnout and the clenching of fists.
That being said, if you desire to be a person who works for the common good, set your sights on faithfulness. That is, seek first the kingdom and remember your first love. Don’t ask how your faith can inform your work, but ask how your work can be a means of faithfulness. We are creatures whose actions are largely formed by what we love the most, and we will do the most good if we love the right things. All good work starts with love.
Finally, we must make the right cultivation of the heart our top priority. Love compels us to do many things and it is not self aggrandizing nor does it boast (1 Cor. 13:4). We must remember that the Christian life is a hidden life (Col 3:3), and that most acts of obedience are not grand but are only seen by God (Matt. 6:3-4).
Adam Smith is a Ministry Associate in Washington, D.C.
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