Goodness...

"What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?"

Psalm 116:12

Moving forward, we come to the next portion of the study in goodness.  And my goodness, there is a lot on goodness in the Bible!  You wanna guess why?  I'll give you a hint: it's because God is full of GOODNESS!!!

Many people make the common mistake of believing that we are "good people who occasionally do bad things."  However, as my Senior Pastor pointed out so accurately, we are actually and factually "bad people who occasionally do good things."  Only God is good.  Only God can be good.  We are not capable of sustaining that, and we need to come to grips with that truth.

So what shall we return to the Lord, as the verse above asks?  We know that we are not good, but can sometimes muster a good thing, and we know that our works did not, will not and can not save us.  But just because we cannot be saved by good works does not mean we should ignore the opportunity to do them.  Let me be crystal clear: we are saved through GRACE, and GRACE ALONE, and nothing we can ever do will put us to the status of "deserving" His favor or patience or grace or love... salvation is a gift.  But we should not squander it.  Therefore, we should aim to do MORE good things, and do them to prove our faith.  James says that "faith without works is dead," and this is so true.  We have to show people through our works what our faith speaks into our hearts.  Our works PROVE our faith and salvation, not the other way around.

Decide today to give more goodness back to the Lord, and do so in whatever capacity you are able.  Some will give money, some will give time, some will ramble endlessly hoping that someone will hear (or read) their thoughts... but give something good to those around you, even if only a kind smile.  Share the goodness that has been imparted to you, and do so for the Lord and for Him alone.

God bless you all!!!