On Facebook, I saw a video of a teacher telling his students to "Do good." One of those students asked "Don't you mean 'do well'?" "No," the teacher replied, "I mean 'do good'."
As a person who teaches English for a living, I can confirm the fact that "good" and "well" are two different words with two different meanings, and I appreciate the student for asking for clarification. As a person who studies the gospel religiously, I can also tell you that doing good is much more important than doing well, and I appreciate the teacher for making that distinction.
In life, there are many things that we must do, and we hope to do them well. These include "good" things, like raising families and giving service. But even if we don't do well at those things, I think we get a significant amount of credit for just doing them at all. The act of doing good or even just attempting to do good has far more impact on our eternal welfare than whether we did well or poorly at it.
A person who does good things poorly will be far better received in heaven than a person who does bad things well. The latter may get more praise from the world, but the former will get more praise from God. Sometimes, I feel like I don't do many things well, but I think that that's okay. While I don't do many things well, I do do many good things. At least, I try to. And so do others who sometimes feel bad for not doing well.
Doing well in school, at work, and in life is a good thing, but in the end, our academic and financial success won't be nearly as important as they sometimes seem. What will matter, when we stand before God, will not be whether we did well in life, but whether or not we did good.
1 comment:
Well said.
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