Resting in God's Goodness

Written with love by Gemma-Elizabeth

The most common admonishment our parents gave us as children was, “Be good”. Whether they had just dropped us off at the neighbor’s for a sleepover or at school, we have all been told to "be good". Good children do good things, and good children become good adults. "Being good" makes us better humans - making the world a better place for everyone…so we were told. We also knew how to be good; you have to be respectful, polite, wait your turn, help others when you can, do not laugh at people, especially the poor - you shouldn’t stare at them either, don’t bully the weird student who smells funny, and so on. We all knew what good kids did. 

And then, somehow, that heartfelt instruction to "be good" as a kid translated into the adult's personal list of dos and don'ts. Ask anyone around what it means to "be good" and I can almost bet you that all the responses would resemble the child’s perspective of goodness: to be good is to do good things. 

        I believed that with all my heart that I was a good kid (most of the time). I was polite, punctual, and kind. I had excellent grades in school. I cleaned up after myself. I was always ready to lend a helping hand (very generously spray ‘most of the time’ over all those adjectives). The adults liked me, and most of the kids around me loved me. I was a good kid who would grow into a fine adult. And grow up I did.

       I still colored within the lines. I wasn’t in pursuit of anything that I didn’t need. The family and friends that I already had were enough for me. I spent my money wisely and sometimes gave to the poor. I was a responsible (good) young adult, or so I thought, until I recently read the Mary and Martha story in the Bible. We all know this story like the back of our hand. God interrupted it's familiarity to me and showed me a new way; a better way; the best way. 

      Let's revisit it together: Luke 10:38–42 (ESV)

“ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

       Martha portrays our innate tendencies in this story. We like to do the work. We say we "do good" because it benefits both ourselves and others, but if we are really honest, we love to "do good" because it makes us feel great about ourselves. It gets us praise, recognition, and sometimes even love - which we all so desperately crave. We busy ourselves working, accomplishing tasks, although not entirely wrong in themselves, can be catastrophic to our spiritual health. Like Martha, we spend so much time doing the acts of goodness; we are often left tired, overwhelmed, and upset. 

All of this loud effort could be better spent in the quiet place of learning at Jesus’ feet. 

What better place is there to learn goodness than from the Good Shepherd Himself? Mary’s position is a posture that is necessary for goodness to begin growing in us. Goodness comes from a heart full of true knowledge of who God is. We must first rest in Christ’s righteousness imputed in us, through faith alone, and by grace alone.

         After we know Goodness (Christ), He works in us to produce good works. Don’t strive to do it by yourself, you can’t! I remember on the few occasions in my childhood when I flopped -- suddenly, one bad action cancelled out all the good that I had done. Within an instant, I became a "bad child" and to get back on the “good girl” pedestal -- I had to work by doing even more "good girl" stuff. As you can imagine, it was super exhausting. 

      This is my message to you: You don’t get points with God by being good. Heck, entrance to heaven isn’t even about doing good. Paul teaches in Galatians 5:4 that our striving to obey the law on our own severs us from Christ. Why? Because we remove ourselves from God’s grace, which is the foundation of our sanctification, rather than resting in His goodness through faith.

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything [not even good deeds], but only faith working through love.” 

Galatians 5:6 (ESV)

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Resting in God’s goodness does not absolve us from doing good deeds. 

“For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” 

Romans 2:10 (ESV)

Good deeds will naturally flow out from us because if we are in Christ, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. We were created by a good God whose plans for us are for good, and we are admonished to walk in step with the spirit of goodness living inside of us. 

    But, with that said, the more we sit at His feet, the more we know Him, and the more we know Him, the more His goodness overflows out of us. 

During times when we get tired and overwhelmed from being Martha, doing good deeds, let that weariness be our spiritual alarm that pushes us into Mary-mode.  Let us sit at our Father's feet where we admire the goodness and beauty of Christ, and where grace springs eternal for the weary soul. His grace is sufficient for you!