Tag: good

When Good is Not Good Enough

Discipleship 1:3

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During my teenage and early 20 something years, I babysat a boy that I practically got to watch grow up. Though I don’t know where the family was spiritually, they did make reference to God often and were pleasant. I frequently took an Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories book to share with Ricky. He asked for them when I came and listened intently to the stories as was proved by his comments and his questions. I did my earnest best to gently share the love of God and his need for Him whenever and wherever I could.

He shocked me, though, when once he told me about an aunt that was a nun; there was no need for his personal salvation as her position gave him an automatic “in” to heaven. I couldn’t have been more floored. In fact, I repeated what he stated, which he confirmed, and asked if he believed it to be true, which he did. Until he made that comment, I didn’t realize that theology, if you wish to call it that, existed. Yeah, I’d battled falling into the performance trap based on my own merit, but never considered that my salvation hinged on someone else’s merit. It opened up a whole realm to me as to why people may take pride in having family members in “religious” service, no matter their faith, and why they may be so lack in nurturing their own spiritual well being. That’s problematic. I put that skewed notion right up there with the fellow student who told my girls that she was a Christian because she was homeschooled. ?! Uh, I don’t think so.

Today’s discipleship lesson is very closely related to something I recently posted entitled Approved and goes into greater detail about my battle with trying to earn God’s favor by my performance. When I was “good”, my relationship with God was “good”. When I fell short of expectations contrived by me or written in the Word, I often put myself into a corner and had a time of avoidance with Father because I felt like I disappointed Him. Wow. That hurt to write but there it is.

Generally speaking, if we ask anyone what one must do in order to be saved and go to heaven, they would most likely say, “Be a good person.” Then they may even go on to list what is considered good based on their own belief system. But in order to have a relationship with God and eventually make our home with Him in heaven, we’d have to have a righteousness that equals His. That, my friends, is impossible and that is what is so amazing about grace.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, … Romans 3:21-23 NKJV

What does this mean? Man couldn’t nor can we even now keep the Law given through Moses. Our best attempts will never be good enough to earn salvation. The best attempts of those we may attach our salvation to will never be good enough. Only Jesus’ sinless life could put us in right standing with the Father. He bridged the gap. Grace, charis, undeserved favor was extended to us. And how do we obtain it?

“… through faith in Jesus Christ… “

 “… and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;… Philippians 3:9 NKJV

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

If we could earn our salvation be keeping the Law, by being “good”, then Christ died in vain. We cheapen His sacrifice by doing all we can do instead of leaning on what Jesus has done.

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:21 NLT

Maybe it’s humanity’s weakness to lean on what we can do to maintain a good relationship with God. I link that to the original sin: pride. Do any of us really want to be dependent on someone else? I personally know of people who have caused physical injury to themselves because they did not want to ask for help. I myself have often pushed the ticket as to what I am capable of because I didn’t want to ask for help. We are never ever going to be good enough. No one person we may depend upon will ever be good enough. As the tax collector in Discipleship 1:2, we must humble ourselves before the LORD so that we may be forgiven and justified. Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, period. Salvation is a gift waiting for us to open!

But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:4-5 NLT

To get the most out of this study, I suggest meditating on the scripture verses presented until the next post and taking the time to look them up in different versions. If you desire to go deeper, study key words in their original meanings.

At any rate, I hope you are blessed by this and that you will continue to join me. Until next time, blessings!

Pro-Choice

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Hubby was YouTube surfing one evening and I was flitting about doing chores. When passing through the living room I found that he’d happened upon an interview with a woman who I assume came to the U.S. for sanctuary. As this piqued my curiosity, I paused.  The little bit I heard went something like this:

                “What do you think Americans take for granted the most?”

                “The right to choose,” was her instant reply.

                That being a catch phrase here I was curious where she was going with her answer.

                “In the country where I come from we don’t have cookbooks.  Even if we did we couldn’t afford the ingredients for the recipes.  Americans choose where they go, where they work, where they live, and they take it for granted.”

                There was no mention of abortion.

                It’s been weeks since I heard that snippet of conversation and I haven’t been able to shake it.

                Here’s something else I’ve been ruminating over: a letter someone wrote to an editor imploring people to “vote their God-given conscience” – that being, vote for candidates whose platform is abortion.  Apparently, he doesn’t know God and I’ll prove it.

                   “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil; … therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; …” Deuteronomy 30:15,19

            God set before us life and death and told us to choose life.

            The pro-choice phrase has been hijacked by the left; the way they define it is actually pro-death and God tells us to have no part of it.  To accept their definition is to set up in their camp and live in small perimeters.  They don’t comprehend that true and pure freedom of choice is actually very vast and is synonymous with life, productivity, and creativity — even to the minute detail of having cookbooks and being able to afford the ingredients to make the recipes.  This correct definition of pro-choice is for all people, those inside as well as outside of the womb.  If the fine art of critical thinking still existed proponents of abortion might eventually conclude that if life in the womb is expendable then lives outside of the womb are expendable as well, including theirs. 

            God Himself said it: Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.  With life comes blessing and good.  This is the “God-given conscience”.  The other “choice”, which kills the choice of one, will sink this nation as well as the lives of those who are upholding this deadly, evil philosophy.   

            Let’s, all of us in all nations, show wisdom by exercising our right to choose life so that we and our descendants will have good and blessed lives.