"Being Good"

Can I just say that I'm not Beth Moore or The Pioneer Woman? There, I feel better. I'm not trying to make this a professional blog to reach millions. I just want to practice my writing and have a creative outlet. Thank you to the family and friends who will humor me by reading my posts. I have a lot to say.

I plan to post about mom stuff (a.k.a. my life), teacher stuff (my former life), marriage, Bible study, and hopefully some recipes here and there. With that being said, I hope you enjoy my first post: "Being Good."

It's so easy to get caught up in "being good." Like an eager-to-please school child who longs for the approval of his teacher, we want our Lord to look upon us as a good and faithful servant. We do work for our church. We participate in community service. We help those in need. And it feels good. In our hearts we say, "Wasn't that good, Lord? Aren't you proud?" 

Step back. 

Once we feel that way, pride is stepping in. It's important to remember that our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Nothing we can do can ever save us.

Now should we strive to "be good" and work for the Lord? "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:17) Like body and soul, you can't have one without the other, at least on this earth. The determining factor that we should be striving for when we do work for the Lord is humility. Yes, I may have done something good, but if I get a swelling of pride in my heart, it was all for naught (at least in regard to my soul). In a world of pride and arrogance, we have to be the stark contrast of humbleness and humility. 

So if we are proud of ourselves, is it always sin? I've always considered being proud of yourself and pride to be a little different. Like an untended garden, if we let pride grow, its tangled vines can take over our hearts and turn it into an overgrown, arrogant mess.

No matter how many truckloads of clothing that we deliver to the needy, it still won't get us to heaven.  Only Jesus can do that.  Instead of that being a letdown, it should be a relief. We can (and should) work for the Lord without measuring the amount of good against our sin. Just work, and let God worry about the rest.

-Sara Grace