“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19).

Paul capsulized what every Christian feels like when they are struggling to do good. As we struggle, let’s get some mental incentive: Due season may not come if we don’t give due diligence.

If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit(Leviticus 26:1-4).

After reminding them who He was and how they were to relate to Him, God told the Israelites to follow His procedures (statutes), be ready to obey his laws (keep my commandments) and actually do them and then He would give what was needed (rain) at the right time (due season) so they could receive a great harvest.

The good we do must flow from the pages of Scripture, and I believe the beginning of doing good is what He told the Israelites, summed up here: in order to follow the way of God, you must focus on the will and way of God, and then perform the will of God. God has certain ways He wants us to do obey and we can only accomplish His will if we focus on it and how He tells us to do it. There is no room for delayed obedience, partial obedience or reworked obedience (figuring out how to accomplish what God said in the way we want to do it). Due diligence to God’s words must precede due season. But even knowing this, struggle may still be in our sight. We must refocus to help us focus on the right thing.

Thank God that Paul tells us in Romans 8 that we can succeed if we focus on the Holy Spirit and not on our flesh. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to give due diligence, thus planting a seed for our harvest in due season.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith