Recently, my children have been singing and teaching me about Santa, “You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town!” Accordingly, Santa is checking to see if we are naughty or nice and, “He knows when you've been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake!” Why are we good? God is good, all the time and all the time, God is good. Are we?
My children have also recently taught me something about God. My daughter Gracie did not listen to me about something I was asking her to do, so we sat down and had a conversation about it. I told her that I wanted her to listen to me and she said, “But Mommy, I’m listening to you right now!” I said, “Yes, and I am glad for that, but I want you to listen to me all the time.” And I found the Holy Spirit filling me and heard God say, “See…that is what I want from you too…all the time.”
We are called to be good and to listen and to follow Christ. Why? Is it because it’s just the right thing to do? Is it for goodness sake? Is it out fear of not going to heaven? Life is God’s gift to us, what we do with it is our gift to God. How we live, how we listen, and how we do good is not just because God says so and wants the best for us (which He does) but it is also more than that. It’s because we love Him. Listening and being good is how we praise God, how we respond, showing Christ and the world that we love our Savior! In this New Year, on the top of our resolutions, let us remember that God is good all the time, all the time God is good, and let us resolve to respond with loving God all the time!
Life in motherhood and ministry. I'm a United Methodist Pastor. I'm navigating life as a single mom to two amazing teenage girls who struggle with mental health. Every day God is good.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
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