You Can Only Do What You Can Do

Norma Jean and I are spending a few days in the area of Bryson City, NC on the way to our annual October visit to Cobbly Nob near Cosby, TN in the Smoky Mountains.

We had planned to drive to Franklin to attend their Wednesday evening Bible Study, but unforeseen circumstances prevented it. So, we spent the evening reading 2 Corinthians.

There is so much to unpack and apply in these passages. How to deal with persecution, adversity, and physical suffering. Overcoming discouragement. What it means to walk by faith. How to excel in holiness. The spiritual warfare we fight. The importance of sacrificial giving. And the need to examine our faith.

However, one little phrase jumped off the page as we read 2 Corinthians 8:12. “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.”

This section of scripture is dealing with giving. There was a financial need to help the poor saints in Jerusalem and Judea. Paul encourages the Corinthians by citing the example of the Macedonian churches, the Corinthians’ faithfulness in other areas, as well as Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.

Paul further admonishes them to give enthusiastically, and to follow through on their commitment. There’s a huge difference “between promise and performance,” as Wiersbe put it.

But the phrase that captured my attention observed that giving is based on “what one has, and not according to what he does not have.”

As Casey Stoner succinctly expressed it, “I can only do what I can do.” The Message, a modern speech paraphrase, puts it this way: “Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands.”

Through the years we’ve heard folks lament how they’re unable to do something. It goes like this. “I can’t lead singing.” “I can’t preach.” I can’t teach a class.” I can’t give lots of money.” “I don’t have much talent.” Ad infinitum. Ad nauseam.

In the matter of monetary giving, I’ve heard people say, “If I had a million dollars, I would __________.” They then proceed to opine the good they would do with their fortune. However, the issue is NOT how much you have, but what are you doing with what you have?

Such folks need to be reminded that neither the Lord, nor any right thinking preacher or pastor, expects anyone to do something they’re not equipped to do. But you need to do what you can do.

The one talent man in Jesus’ parable wasn’t condemned because he lacked the financial acumen of the 5 talent man, or the ingenuity of the 2 talent man talent. But he was rebuked because he failed to do what he could do.

In Romans 12, Paul speaks of the need for every member to be a minister. To do what they can do. In verse 6 he exhorts, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.” The apostle Peter expresses a similar thought when he penned, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10).

Note these simple insights from these two texts.

• We all have gifts.
• Our gifts are all different.
• They are given by God’s grace.
• Good stewardship regulates their use.
• The gifts are to be mutually shared.
• Let us use them!

Much the Lord’s work is done behind the scenes. It’s more than participating in a public way. It’s private. One on one. Doing what you can do to serve others.

What can you do?

• Write a note of encouragement to someone who’s discouraged.
• Visit an elderly, shut in member.
• Take a meal to someone sick.
• Call a friend just to say “hello” and brighten their day.
• Send a text message to say, “I missed you at worship.”
• Smile and welcome visitors at church.
• Offer a hug to someone who needs it.
• Pray for those on the prayer list.
• Encourage the preacher, Bible class teacher and song leader.
• Speak to the young people and let them know their noticed, valued and loved.
• Give what you are able and prospered to give when the plate is passed.
• Invite a friend or neighbor to church.
• Do good to all people.
• Do all things without grumbling or complaining.
• Let your light shine in the community.
• Work as unto the Lord, and not men.
• Support the work of the church by your presence.
• Email a missionary in another country to thank them for their work.

Get the point? No one expects anyone to do something they can’t do. But we can all do what we can do.

As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can with what you have, where you are.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman