Deep Gladness — A LifeWords Devotion

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (NLT)

There is nothing new in reminding ourselves that while friendship with God doesn’t come through our trying to be good enough for him, we are still to try to live good lives. We don’t by faith simply accept the grace of God and cruise passively into eternal life.

Good works don’t save us, but they are necessary evidence of our being saved. But perhaps we can say more. It may well be that God planned our own good works for each of us individually rather than just urging us to be generally good. So the good works God intends me to do may well be different to those he calls others to do.

It may be that he matches who we are with what we are to do. Of course this doesn’t mean doing good is always a delightfully fulfilling experience. But we can’t go to the other extreme of assuming the good we are called to do will be drudgery and frustration. Doing good can bless us as well as others.

God will likely call us to do what we most need to do and the world most needs to be done. The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

Blessings
David