When we are witnessing, we don’t want our goodness to be questioned. This daily devotional looks at ways disciples can sabotage our own good.
Nuggets
- There is only one standard but which we will all be judged.
- We damage our good ourselves by the choices we make.
- God wants us to be genuine in serving Him.
- Reputation and character are two different things, but both are important.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
This is one of those devotions where it seems like the sermons used for the research took it a lot of different places. Let’s go.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
- Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people.
- Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
Let's Put It into Context #3
We are going to take care of this now, because Romans 14: 16 starts with a therefore. What it is thereforing to is
- Disciples are not to have an opinion on something someone else does if God hasn’t made a law or commandment about it.
- Too many times we stick our noses into someone else’s relationship with God where it doesn’t belong.
- It is all about letting people believe what they believe when it does not violate God’s laws and commandments.
When Speaking Bad of Good
“Therefore, do not let your good be slandered” (Rom. 14: 16 CSB)
There is only one standard but which we will all be judged.
Really, we have spoken of this before. It is about the weak biting on the strong for taking what they perceive as liberties, and the strong biting on the weak for — basically — being weak.
We have to remember, Paul is talking about disciples interacting with other disciples here. He isn’t talking about our interchanges with non-believers.
Hodge reminded us that we are to represent Jesus. He listed the following as the two ways we fail at that representation:
• We compromise with the worldview to break God’s laws.
• We, as Hodge wrote, “… act on right principles as to give those principles a bad character, or so conduct themselves as to mislead others as to the true nature of the gospel.”
Resource
How many devotions have we done since I am doing fewer verses at a shot that we’ve talked about the eating and drinking? Is it just about that?
Or is it about the ritual? Back in Jesus’ day, eating and drinking was part of the ritual. It was part of what we would call the service.
Jesus didn’t want them to be all about the ritual. He wanted them — and us to be about the relationship. In what state is our relationship with God?
We don’t want to get bogged down in the observance. We need to focus on the praise and worship.
But how can someone look at our good and say it is bad? Hamilton warned us that could happen if we adopt unpleasant biases. Jesus didn’t show favoritism as He allowed all — Jews and Gentiles — to come to Him.
Resource
We don’t want to become selfish, but sometimes we do. It becomes about us because we don’t want to give up anything and we won’t work at what God tells us to work at.
Unfortunately, sometimes disciples are accused of holding others to a harsher rule than we hold ourselves to. That isn’t right.
God holds us all to one standard. We should hold ourselves and others to that standard.
When We Ourselves Sabotage Our Good
We damage our good ourselves by the choices we make.
Sometimes, we can be our own worst enemies. Watkinson and Lyth gave us good lists of how we do that.
There are times we talk about things we really don’t know about. We may know part of it. We know none of us know everything God knows. We blow it.
Other times, we make light of something we shouldn’t. (Pointing four fingers back at me, here.) Humor does go a long way, but it can also be inappropriate.
Many times, disciples are called narrow by worldview people. They see disciples’ self-denial as excessively strict — needlessly strict.
Moroseness is a descriptive word. That is what Lyth called it. Watkinson called it sadness.
Either way, it is the exact opposite of what God calls us to be. We are to be filled with joy, not ill temper.
There is a balance. Watkinson wrote, “A man who is all laughter counts for little, a man who is all groans counts for less; but he who lets a hopeful spirit shine through all his religion does much to recommend his faith.”
The bad part is when we sabotage the good when we think we should have better. We think discipleship should be smooth sailing. When it isn’t, we start looking for a better good, which in reality is bad.
All we are wanting, like Lyth said, is stability. We are only going to find that in God.
Lyth called it improvidence. It means thoughtlessness or not having foresight. I would say in this case it means not keeping our eyes on God.
Resource
When Good Isn’t Good
God wants us to be genuine in serving Him.
Watkinson brought up the point that some try to fake that they are good. His example was the Pharisees.
Person of Interest
They thought their religious ceremonies would cut it. Jesus said no. It is about relationship, not ceremony.
God doesn’t want us on autopilot. He wants to be our Pilot.
Resource
Don’t Assassinate Our Character
Reputation and character are two different things, but both are important.
Reputation is who others think we are; character is who we really are.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
The Homiletic Monthly wrote, “You may be years, a life-time even, in building it [reputation] up, and yet a moment, a single act, may suffice to destroy it.”
Resource
It is important that disciples have a good name. It can weaken our testimonies if we do not.
Thomas brought up an interesting point. He wrote, “All men instinctively feel that goodness is an excellency, and those who have it not naturally envy those who possess it.”
Resource
But goodness speaks more to character than reputation. That is where we want to focus. We want to focus on who we are, not who people think we are.
Goodness is an attribute of God. God’s goodness is His holy, pure, and righteous behavior.
- Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
See what that keeps talking about: moral character. It doesn’t say a word about reputation.
Still, reputation is important. We must have credibility with those to whom we are witnessing.
Making the Connections
I read all these sermons that the others wrote, and they are good sermons. They are real encouraging to us.
But not one sermon addressed anything to do with the therefore.
- Disciples are not to have an opinion on something someone else does if God hasn’t made a law or commandment about it.
- Too many times we stick our noses into someone else’s relationship with God where it doesn’t belong.
- It is all about letting people believe what they believe when it does not violate God’s laws and commandments.
“Therefore, do not let your good be slandered” (Rom. 14: 16 CSB).
Maybe it is just me. I was expecting Paul to give some instructions on what to do when people did stick their noses into where they didn’t belong or they did try to force others to believe what they believed.
How Do We Apply This?
- We have to be consistent in seeking God.
- We have to remember we serve Christ.
- We have to watch our motives.
Resource
Thomas gave us an interesting word of advice. He wrote, “A man’s power to do good depends greatly upon the faith that society has in his goodness. If society suspects his genuineness or disinterestedness, he may preach like Paul, but he will accomplish but little good. Hence it has often happened that truly good men and powerful preachers have, by disregarding certain recognised (sic) proprieties of society, destroyed their usefulness for ever. Conclusion: Hence, because of this danger and evil, let us walk “circumspectly,” not as fools, but as wise; let us avoid the very appearance of evil, knowing that the loss of reputation tends to disqualify us for usefulness.”
Resource
What this is telling me is we have to protect our witness. We don’t want to jeopardize the work God has called us to do because we have lost credibility with those to whom we are witnessing.
Father God. You have called us to be good like You. That means we are to be holy, pure, and righteous. May our character be Yours and our reputation be such that those we are witnessing to know that we are a credible witness for You. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.