What is good?
This 'one good thing' theme is exercising my mind greatly. Not because I can't think of good things to do, but more because I'm already starting to question whether I know what the word 'good' really means. This often happens to me when I hear God. He says something which on the surface looks straightforward, and then, on closer inspection, one discovers that there's much more to it. Hidden meanings, deeper interpretations etc. So before I leap into forty days of frantic benevolent activity I thought Id better make sure I really knew what I had signed myself up to!
good
/ɡʊd/
adjective
- 1.to be desired or approved of."it's good that he's back to his old self"
- 2.having the required qualities; of a high standard."a good restaurant"
- 1.that which is morally right; righteousness."a mysterious balance of good and evil"
- 2.benefit or advantage to someone or something."he convinces his father to use his genius for the good of mankind"
The alleged Indo-European “root” of "good" is ghedh (to unite, join, fit). That which is united is "good".
So my quest for ' one good thing' might include doing things to benefit people, doing things which bring unity, doing something to a higher standard than I would normally do it, or doing something which could be considered righteous. Hmmm. And then this morning I woke up with the thought that God might not always ask me to do something good for someone else. He might ask me to do something good for MYSELF!!! That thought came as somewhat of a surprise. I had assumed that the ' one good thing' was going to be exclusively about other people. How can something as simple as a three word idea suddenly become so complicated?? LOL
So what, I hear you ask. was your one good thing yesterday? ( Remember that Im writing these a day ahead of schedule to post at midnight) Well my one good thing turned out to be two good things. Firstly I decided to go to church. This in itself is not a particularly good thing, but I decided to go back to the church plant we were involved with a few years ago because I knew it would be good for me. And it was. I feel loved and welcomed in that place and among those people. I feel at peace and I can sense God's presence and see His activity and it is GOOD. And I thought that was going to be my one thing. But then I happened to be sitting behind a couple who had a two week old baby. She was a tiny scrap of wonderfulness and her brand new parents were so in love with her. As I sat watching them I just wondered if God might have anything to say to this brand new life on the first Sunday of Advent. And of course He did. So I scribbled down some words of encouragement and hope on a piece of paper and handed it to Dad. Afterwards he came up and thanked me with a big grin on his face.
Conclusion. God wants good ( beneficial, unifying, righteous , enjoyable ) things for you this Advent He also wants you to be good news to those around you. I suspect that we are better at being good to others when we have been filled ourselves with the goodness of God.
Here's a song to help us focus on His goodness
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