Good Enough

Daily Reading: Matthew 19

Scripture Focus: Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. (Matthew 19.17)

Devotional Thought: Jesus, when asked about living a good life, pointed the questioner to his Father.  We, too, when confronted with God's demand to live a good life, must look to the Father.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, after all.  Left to our own devices, we can try so hard to earn God’s favor:  we read our Bibles, we pray occasionally, we say all of the right words, we even serve in the church. The prophet Isaiah said it well: “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind" (Isaiah 64.6, NLT).

So where does that leave us, if our own goodness can never measure up?  Should we give up trying to live holy lives pleasing to God?  Paul addresses this in Romans 6:1-2:  “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”  He can work wonders through us, if we but let him work in our hearts and lives.  To do so, we must die to self, to our fleshly weakness.  As Paul exhorts in Romans 12, “…Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  On our own, we can never be good enough.  But, as a living sacrifice to the Lord, we are perfect in Christ.

Jenny Wade

Prayer: Lord, I know that on my own, I can never be good enough.  But, I praise you that I'm not on my own.  "Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7.24-25).  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 88.6-12

6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.

7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you.

10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?