I have been told a few times that I am a good writer. That’s an encouraging thing to hear, whether or not it’s true. I am amazed that anyone enjoys reading what I write. I write because I like to see what I am thinking. To gather all the pieces that are scattered about my mind and assemble them in some sort of recognizable and cohesive form. Writing is just a way for me to clarify my muddled thinking. I do it for me! I blog what I write to test my thoughts with other people’s thoughts. I also write because I have ten grandchildren, and I hope someday they will want to discover what is important to me.
The truth be told, I would not call myself a good writer. It is good for me to write, but I’m not really good at it. I can’t spell worth a hoot. My grammar is lacking. I get lots of inspiration to write. Sometimes it comes too fast, and I get overwhelmed, and then my thinker overheats. That’s when the emotion of inspiration supersedes the thoughts themselves.
The “good” of my writing comes from outside of me. When I was a graduate student, my content rarely received criticism, but my technique did. Janice, my wife, was far more intelligent and gifted in such skills. She began to read and correct what I wrote. While a pastor, our church secretary would augment the presentation of my thoughts. Now, my daughter reads everything I put out. And that is after I have submitted my writing to Grammarly. And before Dana reads it to me, I have my word processor read it out loud to me.
If there is “good” in my writing, it’s there because I have learned to be submissive to those who know how to make me look at least somewhat intelligent. I don’t know that I am a good writer, but I have become a good worker.
Somewhere in the chaos of this cognitive exercise, an event in the life of Jesus popped up.
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.”
(Mark 10:17-18, CSB)
There are some religions that take this event to prove that Jesus didn’t think of himself as Divine, as God. They are mistaken!
At least part of what Jesus is saying here is that the standard for defining “good” is very high! The only way real “goodness” can be experienced in our lives is from God’s activity.
For anything we do or say or even think to be considered good, truly good, is only way good is accessible is by way of the difficult decision to be submissive to His presence in us. We need other people around us to help us be consistent in that submission. We need a small group of close companions whom we have invited to honestly and compassionately assess our living. And a larger group, a church family, to encourage and affirm us.
We also need to have an expanding understanding of God’s Word. Bluntly said, your understanding of what God is doing in your life will be limited to how much understanding you have gleaned from your reflection upon His Word. No Word! No Understanding. Neglecting the thoughtful consideration of His Word is to forfeit the understanding of what He is doing in you, around you, and through you!
God is almost invisible to those who look for Him without the lens of His Word.
Good comes to us. Good can pass through us, but good will never, ever, originate in us.
God is good. I am not. I long to be available to Him so that His good is visible.
Photo – One of the boxes I created.
Baldwin Heirlooms 