What Has God Done for You Lately?

Take a moment and reflect on the last good thing that has happened in your life. When was it, and why would you define it as good? How long did it take you to think of something good? It is a simple question, but for many people, it can be difficult to answer. Humans have a relatively short memory, especially when it comes to the good that happens in our lives. So often we focus all our attention on the problems of life, without taking the time to remember any of the good that has happened in and through our lives. We remember all of our hardships and troubles, but we are quick to forget all the good that God has done in our lives.

All good things have their source in God, and Psalm 126:3 boldly tells us, "Te LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Note the tense of the verse. God has already done good things in our lives. He has given us air to breathe and another day to rejoice in His glory. He gives us the desires our hearts, and He makes His presence known in our lives.

It is God's desire to be glorified in our lives, and when we dwell in His Spirit, we see His character revealed to us. Jamie Munson writes, "God's actions reveal his character to us. As we reflect on what God has done and what he has said about himself, we learn more about him." Take another moment to reflect on what God has done for you lately. What does it reveal about Him?

Living Life

Clean in Christ

In recent years, cleanliness has becomes very important. Maintaining our physical hygiene fores us to wash our bodies and brush our teeth regularly. In an increasingly socializing world, it is important to present ourselves as inoffensively as possible. But cleaning extends far beyond the realm of personal hygiene. the ideal of cleanliness dictates that we must wear clean clothes and live in clean houses. Further, developing clean energy and even performing business in an earth-friendly way is becoming increasing popular- and expected.

As obsessed as our culture is about being clean, so were the Israelites of Old Testament times. But the people of Israel were concerned about their cleanliness for a completely different reason. While people today are concerned about how they might be perceived by others,the Israelites were concerned with how they would be perceived by God.

Leviticus 14 helps paint a clear picture of how one is declared cleansed of a skin infection in the eyes of God. It is also describes God's desire for us to be declared clean. However, we no longer perform such rituals today. This is because, though cleansing is still vital to our salvation, we are now cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Horatius Bonar says, "As a believing man, I enter upon his fullness; I becomes partaker of his riches; and so identified with himself, that his cleanness is accounted my cleanness, his excellence my excellence, his perfection my perfection." Christ is good, and unlike the devil who comes only to steal , kill and destroy (John 10:10), our God comes to cleanse, heal, and give thriving life.

Living Life

Good Gifts

If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? Would you wish for more wish, immortality, or perhaps earthly pleasures? If you were to ask this question in a secular setting and again in a Christian setting, you might receive two very different answers, even from the same person.

As Christians, we struggle with two very different desires: the desires of our fleshly selves and the desires of our spiritual selves. As selfish humans, our first wish would be to appease our flesh. But as Christians, we would first want to honor God.

When we ask the question of "three wishes," we usually do it in the context of a magical genie. However, we must realize that there is nothing  NOTHING!that we cannot ask God for. This does not mean that God will always answer the way we want Him to, but as His children we are able to ask Him for anything.

God wants to give us good gifts, but how He defines "good" and how we define it is sometimes different. We do not always know what is good for us, and we do not always desire what we should. As Thomas Aquinas writes, "When we say that good is what all desire, it is not to be understood that ever ind of good thing is desired by all; but that whatever is desired has the nature of good. And when it is said, 'None is good but God alone,' this is to be understood of essential goodness." Whether we realize it or not, God gives us good gifts, because He is good.

Living Life