Articles
Do Something
I went out for baseball in junior high. I have never been much of an athlete, but I decided
to try it. I was playing one of the infield positions and a ground ball came my way. I fielded it
right on the edge of the outfield. There were runners on base going to the next bases. I thought
about throwing to first base. Then I thought maybe I had a better chance of getting the base
runner. I could not decide; so I hesitated. As I looked back and forth holding the ball, everybody
was safe on what should have been an easy out, possibly a double play. The coach came running
out toward where I was and said, “Look, Cecil, do something, even if it’s wrong!” Coach was
not really saying it was all right to do the wrong thing. He was recognizing, that doing nothing is
always wrong. Do something and at least you might be right.
A preacher organized for his congregation what he called a “quitting meeting”, urging
every member of the congregation to renounce some sin they had been guilty of and to promise
to quit it. Some promised to quit gossiping, some to quit drinking. The response was quite varied.
Then one older gentleman arose and said, “I ain’t been doing nothing, and I aim to quit it!” That
is something a great many people ought to quit.
There is only one way to be saved. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). There are, however, many ways to be
lost, many sinful lifestyles one may choose to follow. It is, after all, a “wide gate” that leads to
destruction (Matt. 7:13). One of the easiest ways to be lost is just to do nothing. Jesus says, “Not
everyone who says to Me,’ Lord, Lord’; will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does
the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). The Bible also says, “So whoever knows
the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17).
To all of us, God says, “Do something!”
~ Cecil May Jr. Azalea City church of Christ, Semmes, AL
