BEING GOOD (Psalm 125)

Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. (Psalm 125:4, NIV)

A few days ago I looked at who God is and what He does. He is good and He does good. The Bible makes it clear that no human is good. We all sin

So the prayer here surprises me, because it asks God to do good to those are good. The parallelism of the verse connects with being good with being upright in heart.

Come to think of it, I am good in Christ. His goodness, or righteousness, has been credited to my account. And unlike my local bank, no amount of debits--sins--can decrease the value to zero. I am now and always will be counted as good because God saved me.

Upright in heart suggests it's more than my behavior. It's what motivates me, what dictates my actions.

Recently someone told me, "you're the nicest person I know." I wanted to look over my shoulder (check who else she meant to send the email to, instead of me!). But of course she was talking to me.

Now, I know how selfish and self-centered I am. I know the times when I am anything but a testimony to my Lord and Savior. When I am definitely NOT "doing" good.

But I still AM good, because I have been born again, with God as my Father. And somehow people see that in me, in spite of the times I don't do good. Maybe because, like David, I go after God with my whole heart. Perhaps I am "upright in heart."

Because I am--because we are--good in Christ, we can come before God with confidence, imploring Him to "do" goodness for us.

Amen.

Today's favorite verse: God's strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8, MSG)