“I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14).

The Apostle Paul is bringing his letter to the Romans to a close in chapters 15 and 16. And after having reminded the Romans of all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ – that there is no condemnation, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, that all things will work together for those who love Jesus, because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved – the Apostle feels confident about the Roman Christians. Not because of their inherent abilities or goodness, but because of God’s amazing power and goodness. And it is God’s power that has now filled the Roman Christians with all knowledge.

So, I too, am confident about you Little Church and Lakewoodgrace. I am confident that God will use you to be a blessing for God’s goodness in our world. I am confident that you have the ability to thrive, not just survive, during this season. I am confident that God chose you and me to be alive for just such a time as this because God is more than able to use the likes of you and me to bless our world, right now!

One of the things that can happen during this season is paralysis. Unless we are careful, we can become convinced that there is nothing we can do during this time because we can’t see people and gather for worship.

That’s a lie. That’s simply not true. There is so much we can do to make a difference in the lives of people.

Just the other day, I noticed that my wife had baked a batch of cookies. You see, there are people who enjoy that kind of thing. And then, I realized there are people who really enjoy eating cookies! What a match made in heaven!!!

You see, normally when my wife bakes, it’s to give away. She enjoys baking and cooking. And she enjoys when others enjoy her food.

If that’s you, hello!!! I love cookies!!!

There are many others who would love a batch a cookies, goodies, pecan pies!

Whatever it is you are good at, think on how you can use that to bless others.

• I have also heard from you who are sharing these daily devotionals with others, and others of you who have been sharing our link to Sunday worship. That’s fantastic! After sharing those links, have a conversation about what God revealed to you.
• There is nothing in the world that can stop the prayers of God’s people. No one can stop us from praying. Be intentional about prayer. Join with me and others on Wednesday evenings to pray for our country, city, and our church.
• If you’re a talker, pick up the phone and call someone.
• If you’re a writer, pick up the pen and write a note, send a card, a letter.
• If you’re a baker, I’m your man!

There is so much we can do. Don’t fall for the lie that there is nothing we can do.

I believe in you Little Church and Lakewoodgrace, because I have a great faith in the God who has saved us!

“For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true” (Ephesians 5:8-9).

Our world is facing incredible challenges.

• A tiny air-born virus has completely rocked the world
• In the midst of all that, the penned up frustration of racial inequality and injustice has erupted all over our country
• More Americans are self-declaring that they are depressed than at any other time in modern history
• There are millions out of jobs, out of income, wondering how they will make it to the end of the week

You feeling better yet?

If you find yourself struggling, bummed out, emotionally spent, or just numb…welcome to the club.

All this. All that’s described above…that’s the darkness that Paul is talking about in our text. For once we were darkness and lived in darkness.

But now in the Lord we are light.

Did you catch that? We are light, not because our world has changed, but because our location has changed. We are no longer alone in the darkness. We are in the Lord. And because we are in the Lord in the midst of the darkness, there’s a light shining. It’s called hope.

You see, there is no amount of darkness in the universe that can overcome the power of light from one tiny little candle. But, imagine…the light we are talking about is not a tiny little candle, but the One who created light! The light of the sun cannot hold a candle next to the Creator of the sun.

Because of who Jesus, “in the Lord we are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.” 

Because of Jesus, we are to live as children of light. What does that look like? “For the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.”

• All that is good…
• All that is right…
• All that is true…

This is what the fruit of the light looks like.

Your home work for today is to think on and write down and make a list of all those things that are good, then all those things that are right, and finally all those things that are true. After you’ve made that list, that becomes your to do list for today!

Have a fantastic day, children of light!

“To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith” (1 Thessalonians 1:11).

One of the problems with a word only occurring four times only in the New Testament, and no where else in Greek literature is it’s tricky to get the proper meaning correct.

This is evident in the different translations of this verse:

• NRSV – “…asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith”
• NASB – “…asking that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power”
• NIV – “…asking that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire and goodness and your every deed prompted by faith”
• Message – “…pray that God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something”

Both the New Revised Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible talk about God’s good resolve and God’s goodness. The New International Version and the Message talk about the Christian’s goodness and good ideas. The reason for this is because the referent to “good” or “goodness” is ambiguous.

Having said all that, let’s take a look at what the Greek says. A wooden translation of this says, “and he may fulfill every good pleasure of goodness and work of faith with power.”

• The Greek word for “good pleasure” is eudokia. It means good pleasure or satisfaction, but the reference is always the good pleasure or satisfaction God feels toward human beings.
• The Greek word for “goodness” is our word of the week agathosune. As we saw yesterday this goodness refers to a goodness that can only come from God.

Are you still with me? I know this is technical but I trust you are able to stay with me.

Looking at all the evidence, I think both the NRSV and the NASB are the better translations.

So, what does all this mean?

The Apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonians that God will make us worthy of his call and God will fulfill by his power every good resolve and good work by his power. This is important because the call to be good on our own power and will leads either to despair or pride.

• It leads to despair because no matter how much we try with our own power to be good, we will never be perfectly good. We will always fail.
• It leads to pride because if we think we can be good and see others who fail we end up prideful at our abilities and we look down on those who can’t seem to manage to be good.

Thank God that God promises to declare us good because Jesus did for us what we could not do on our own. Jesus’ goodness covers our failures. And Jesus’ goodness causes us to live good lives.

Because of all that God has done for us in Jesus, we can strive to live out our calling trusting that God is at work in us to make us good through the Holy Spirit. God is at work in us to make us more like Jesus. This is the work of sanctification – becoming more like Jesus.

Even though we may fail from time to time, God is never done with us. God is always at work in us to make us worthy of his call. Our starting point, because of all that God has already done for us in Jesus, is from the point of having already been declared and deemed good.

That, my friends, is truly great news!