I ran across a note in my Bible while reading James 4.17:

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

I used to read that as good versus evil: making the right choice. But that’s not what it’s saying. It’s more the idea of performing a positive good for someone else. In this case, doing nothing is a sin if you don’t carry out the good. Here’s the story I wrote in a note in my (iPad) Bible:

We were at the memorial service of June’s pastor from childhood, Mark Senter, who passed in 2013 at the age of 97. I knew him too and was blessed by his preaching at the summer camp where June and I met at age 11 (another story!). A friend of ours from those days, Robert Pettus, was preaching the service, and he told a story that went something like this:

My ambition in life as a teenager was to become a race car driver. Pastor Senter didn’t think that was a good use of my potential, so he came to our house one day and said, “I think I can get you a baseball scholarship to Bryan College.” (Pastor Senter was on the board.) So I went to Bryan and played baseball. It didn’t occur to me until later that I really wasn’t very good at baseball. [And I would add, schools the size of Bryan College don’t have athletic scholarships.] I realized that Pastor Senter himself had provided that “scholarship.”

To me, it was an example of James 4.17. To Pastor Senter, he had an opportunity to help a young teenager go off in the right direction. (Robert Pettus ultimately had a long and successful career with Coca-Cola.) I’m sure to Pastor Senter that not using his means for that purpose would have been a sin.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6.10, ESV)