Translating belief into constructive deeds

We all would like to live in a better world. To make the world a better place starts with each one of us.

According to the Bahá’í Writings: “The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct”. The emphasis is placed on purity of intention and sincerity, when one performs good deeds. That is when greatest results are achieved. “One can hardly imagine what a great influence genuine love, truthfulness and purity of motives exert on the souls of men. But these traits cannot be acquired by any believer unless he makes a daily effort to gain them …”.

Our efforts to conform to God’s teachings should be a necessary consequence of our belief in Him, and it is natural that our belief in God would be translated into constructive deeds. Otherwise, one would question what it means to have faith if it is not consciously manifested in one’s actions and in one’s relationships with others?

Moral maturity comes from spiritual awareness and the moral code that has the transformative power for action originates from the guidance given to us by our Creator.  According to the Bahá’í Writings: “… the foundation of success and salvation is the knowledge of God, and that the results of the knowledge of God are the good actions which are the fruits of faith”. 

Of course, no one walking the spiritual path may make a claim to perfection. However, through daily effort we can progressively reflect in our actions the teachings of God, no matter how difficult to attain they may seem to be.

The Bahá’í Writings say: “Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday” and that “We must strive unceasingly and without rest to accomplish the development of the spiritual nature in man, and endeavour with tireless energy to advance humanity toward the nobility of its true and intended station”.

A moral person would consciously and actively be engaged in performing actions that promote not only individual, but also social, transformation.

The following words of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, captures the essence of translating belief into constructive deeds: “Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer to the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts …”.

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