Unlike Him

We’ve been talking about being like Jesus lately and today I came across a thought from E. Stanley Jones, Mr. Jones contends that if our standard of goodness is Jesus (and it should be), then any departure from that goodness is sin or in other words anything that is un-Jesuslike is sin. Which brings us back to abiding; He’s in us we just have to get better at less us.

What’s Another Word for Overwhelmed the Good Way?

God’s goodness and everything that goes in that, has been so overwhelmingly evident lately it’s almost beyond understanding. Walking through life with Him is the greatest adventure and please forgive my excitement but I can’t help but wish the same for you. He loves you so much.

Giddy

As I’ve been praying about what to share with you today I find myself giddily (yes that’s really a word) overwhelmed by the goodness of our God. Not the kind of euphoria that comes from a false sense that everything is going perfectly, but completely excited by how marvelous He is even though much around us could definitely use improvement. I don’t know how to describe this feeling but I hope you feel it too.

Good

“I used to think God was good some of the time, but now I know He’s good all of the time.” – Bob Goff, Love Does

Isn’t it a shame when an amazing truth somehow gets watered down from overuse? It doesn’t make it any less true though. God’s goodness is constant. Therefore we can absolutely trust Him all the time. Rain or shine, good times and tough times God is always at work with our ultimate good in mind and on the horizon. Now that’s worth getting excited about.

Goodness

We will never reach the end of God’s goodness. His good thoughts towards us each day are amazing. And remember, His thoughts are unlike our thoughts which are often fleeting. His thoughts never stray from His acting.

Being not Doing

Who are you is a much more important question than what do you do. We’re told that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are the evidence we’ll see in those filled with God’s Spirit. Notice this is not a list of grand accomplishments. It’s not a list of tasks to be completed, books to have read or written nor is it an inventory of disciplines to have mastered. It’s about who you are in your heart and is completely reflected in how you treat those around you.

The First Commandment

“Be Fruitful”: full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. These are the results of our truly understanding God’s perfect love for us and responding to that love by drawing close to Him.

Self Control

It’s great that with this fruit comes the ability to remove self not just control it. It is the demonstration of all of the fruit listed in the previous ten posts. Another description might be that it is the ability to recognize when we are stepping away from The Lord and making the correction by quickly turning back to Him.

Faithfulness

Full of faith, trusting God with all that we are and all that we have. Knowing that in the big picture, no matter what today may look like, somewhere down the road we will understand and appreciate all that we experienced today.

Gentleness

Mildness might be another way of saying gentleness. This sometimes gets confused with avoidance or being the kind of person that stays away from difficulty. That’s not what this fruit is about. The confidence that comes from the Spirit within us allows us to confront the things that need to be addressed but we are able to do that with gentleness, being considerate of others.