Set Apart

(We have another guest writer to introduce you too: Ross. I hope you will enjoy reading his thoughts about a very important subject. God bless!)

Let me ask you a question: Are you a good person?Simple, right? Ok then, answer it. Yes or no. Are you a good person?

Here’s another question for you: Do you place your FULL faith in Jesus Christ?I’m not talking about going to church every Sunday,or even praying once in a while. I’m talking about fully leaning and depending on Him in your everyday lives. FULLY. Yes or no.

Ok. Now look at your two answers. Are they the same? If not, we have a problem.

Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about this. After all,I am merely a flawed human being such as yourself. Why should you trust me? DON’T. Trust God.

Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt,they do abominable deeds,there is none who does good.”
Ouch. Kinda harsh don’t you think? Corrupt and abominable are brash in and of themselves,but it’s the last part of that verse I want to focus on. “There is NONE who does good.” Period. If you are a fool, you CANNOT do good. Not you? Let’s move on then.

Micah 6:8“He has told you,O man,what is good;and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”
Pretty straight forward. Here it tells us what is good. Again,I want to focus on the last part of the verse. Are you walking humbly with your God? Be honest here.

Luke 6:43-45“For no good tree bears bad fruit,nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes,nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil,for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Last one. Do you see good fruit in your life? If not,then you are not a “good tree”, so to speak. Notice one other think here: there is no “neutral tree.” Either you are a good tree,or a bad tree.

Now what does the Bible say about faith and how it relates to us doing good?
Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him,for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those that seek him.”
Doubtless you’ve heard this verse before. Now actually THINK about it. Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. IMPOSSIBLE! Not “hard to” or even,“unlikely to.” No,it says “impossible to.” Now you may be sitting there and thinking: “But I do believe he exists. What’s the big deal here?” If you DO believe he exists and that he rewards those that seek Him,you should then be following Him. It is not merely enough to know all of this, but you must truly believe it. That means living your life in accordance with your beliefs.

I believe there are two types of good. There is good according to the world,and there is good according to God. For instance, charities and non-profit organizations are good by the world’s standards. What we need to ask ourselves is this: “Am I content to live a “good” life by the world’s standards? OR do I want to strive to live by God’s standards?”

I will make one last point before I close and that is that it is not merely enough to not do evil. Let me rephrase that. We must strive to do good. If we are simply living non-evil lives it does not necessarily mean that we are living good lives. If we are living good lives, we will see the fruit of that.

Thanks for reading and taking time to consider these things. I will leave you with this verse as an encouragement.
Psalm 34:8
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

Posted in: Ross on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at at 8:45 AM