Have a Good(ness) Time

When Lloyd John Ogilive gets out of bed in the morning, he has what he calls "a goodness time." Aloud he quotes or sings scriptures about the goodness of the Lord. Then he lists recent evidences of the Lord's goodness in his life.
After that, he claims this fruit of Christ's character as he sings the chorus, "God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me." At this point, he prays for each one he will meet that day and asks for the flow of God's goodness through him to be perfectly mingled with knowledge and the sensitivity to speak the truth in love.

He declares that his best days begin with this kind of quiet time, and that his least effective days are those when he doesn't take time to open his heart to the inrush of the goodness of the Lord.

Goodness is the perpetual and sincere desire to do good to the utmost of our ability. But all this must spring from a good heart--a heart with pure motives.

"A good person produces good words from a good heart" (Matthew 12:35 NLT). Goodness is always living for others and never seeking our own advantage. If we possess the fruit of goodness, we will be both generous and guileless--without hypocrisy. We will be what we appear to be.

Being good is a matter of being sensitive to the promptings God gives. His promptings always harmonize with His Word.

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus said. "No one is good--except God" (Mark 10:18). I think we can extend that to mean that our deeds are not good unless they are the deeds God wants us to do. If we do what He calls "good," when we are finished, we can hear His whisper, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matthew 25:23).

Dear Jesus, help me to be good--to do the deeds You choose for me to do.

"How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you" (Psalm 31:19).