Not our Goodness
Key VersesSo He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
(Matthew 19:17)
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
(Romans 8:9-14)
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Bob and I were married in the middle of World War II. After a short honeymoon we began a year-and-a-half-long “paper marriage” while Bob returned to war in the Pacific.
I wrote often and passionately of my love. Then Bob came home and I had to begin living out what I had sincerely, but naively, portrayed in my letters. Bob quickly got to know the selfish, immature, not-so-good wife who had never shown up in our wartime correspondence.
As my hopes of appearing good faded, my longing to be good grew. Bibles verses haunted me. For example: Proverbs 31:12. “She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” The other verse that caught my attention was in Matthew 19, where Jesus asks, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God…” (v.17).
During the years we were neck-deep in raising four children, Bob and I were struggling in our relationship. We were disappointed – in ourselves, and in each other. A study of Romans began to reveal the fact that God’s Spirit lived in us. In all our years as Christians, neither of us had heard a message on the Spirit of God! We hadn’t realized that God wanted to express His goodness in and through us.
We began to lean on the in-dwelling God to change us, and our marriage was transformed. The understanding that we could live out of God’s resources changed the dynamics of how we related to each other. Now we both want to demonstrate the loveliness of Jesus in our lives, and we know he will help us do that.
To Ponder….
What makes it impossible for spouses always to “look good” to one another?
How can you come together in depending on God to bring “goodness” into your relationship?
posted by Lighthouse @ 7:20 AM
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