What Is Good

 

“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 

"For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 

"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” 

Luke 6:43-45

Jesus said some things which can be hard for people to take, especially when what He said points out a fault they possess.

We also can read this as advice to us regarding how we are to evaluate those who we come into contact with.  Jesus is telling us that regardless how people may act, the true measure of whether or not they are good or evil is the words that come out of their mouths and their actions.

Jesus wants us to be aware that bad people do and say bad things and good people do and say good things.

Therefore, we should strive to do what is good.

Look For Opportunities To Show God's Love

 

But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

1 John 3:17

In his writings John is affectionate toward us but he is also a tough task master.  He lets us know that if we say we are Christians, we need to behave in a Christ like manner and do what Jesus commanded us to do – love one another.  

One day in the 1960's, when I was a child, my mother sent me to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread.  I saw Mike who was 7 years old and wearing a dirty undershirt, torn pants and no shoes; he was one of the poor kids.  His father died and he lived in a shack with his mother and siblings.  Mike was paying for a loaf of bread with deposit money from pop bottles he salvaged from an overgrown lot next to the store.  Mike was short six cents and the cashier sent him back outside to find three more bottles.  Bread was twenty cents a loaf then.  

 

Don’t you think someone standing in line could have paid the six cents?   Nobody did. 

It could be argued that it did not hurt Mike to dig through the weeds for pop bottles, but if someone would have said, “Let me get that for you,” and paid that six cents, Mike might have seen God’s love.

Look for opportunities to show God's love.

Sin Is A Sticky Trap

 

For we know that the Law is spiritual but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing that which I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

For I joyfully concur with the law of God, in the inner man, but

I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:14-25

The Apostle Paul said it well, “I do not understand; for I am not practicing that which I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”

Sin is a sticky trap which even the most devout and serious Christian cannot escape. Every day we face hundreds of temptations to do evil and every day we succumb to some of them. We cannot say we do not sin because if we even think evil things about others we have sinned.

So, what is the solution? The answer is in Jesus Christ who once and for all cleansed us from our sin. We sin, but we still serve God.

The ruler by which we measure our sin is far shorter than that of God. We say we are bad, God says we are forgiven.

So, let us strive to clean up our lives and to sin less, but let us remember that sin is sticky and it is only the swipe of forgiveness of God that can cleanse us.

When we ask, God forgives us. 

What Does The Lord Require?

 

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

Micah 6:8

This verse models Jesus’ ministry on earth.  When Jesus spoke or acted, He did so to show justice or kindness.  He was above all else, a humble man whose ambition was to please God, His Father. 

If we want to be Christ like, then we need to consider how we can live our lives to reflect justice, kindness and humility.

The Known God

 

So Paul stood in the midst of the Council of Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.  For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath, and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are His children.’”

“Being the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.”

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has raised from the dead.”

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.”

So Paul went out of their midst.

But some men joined him and believed….

Acts17:22-34

 

I think this is one of the Apostle Paul's greatest sermons.  His description of God is powerful and persuasive and rings true today.

People are still seeking the Unknown God.  He is the God we know who loves them, and requires no silver or gold but only their worship.  

God is right there with those who seek Him, waiting to be invited into their lives.  All we have to do is what The Apostle Paul did, tell them that God “…is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist….”  And, we are His children.

 

We know the Known God and we can introduce Him to those who are seeking.  Be bold like Paul, when you see an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus, do it.   

Meal Time Is Happy Time

Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it than a house full of feasting with strife.

Proverbs 17:1 

Meal time is happy time.  It is not the time to discipline children or argue with our spouses or our guests. 

Meal time should be a time of sharing about the day's happenings.  A time for congratulations and for fostering a feeling of safety in the family.  If meal time at your house is rowdy, perhaps you can set a few rules and share them with your family before meal time so they have time to think about them.

God is all about loving one another and we can bring love to the dinner table.

Love One Another

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.    

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

 

By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  

 

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 

1 John 4:7-11

In the comic strip Peanuts Linus once said, “I love humanity.  It is people I can’t stand.” 

 

Human nature is a lot like that.  It is difficult for us to love people who are not lovable, but those are the people who need love the most. 

Once we have experienced God’s love, His love begins to work in us.  We see people not as they are on the outside, but as people who God loves and we begin to love them.  

 

We offer kindness and understanding and love to others, because when we are filled with God's love it is bound to spill out. 

 

So, remember God loved us, so we ought to love one another.