It seems that people talk a lot about doing the right thing, about being good. For example, Nick Hornby is most famous for his books ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘About A Boy’. He has also written ‘How to be Good', which asks some searching questions: What is goodness? How can it be acquired? Do we want it badly enough, and if not how can we acquire a desire to be good? The narrator, Kate, goes to a rather sad Anglican Church, which she discovers her brother Mark, desperate for forgiveness, has started attending...
What nobody tells Kate ‑ and nobody tells the readers of How to Be Good ‑ is that Christians have an answer to the question, 'How can I be Good'? But it isn't a technique, it isn't a list of disciplines, it isn't about gritting our teeth and trying really hard; it is a delighted response to what God has done and is going to do for us. God has given us everything; we respond in unforced generosity. God makes streams of living water flow in our hearts; it overflows inevitably and joyously in service to him and concern for other. God forgave our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus; we forgive others with the same uncalculating recklessness.
Put another way it’s about the Kingdom of God ruling more and more in our lives.
As Jesus said:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6 [NIV]
Tim Norman
Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 119:145-152, Joel 2:18-3:21, Hebrews 4:1-13
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