This Is Us | Relentlessly Good | The Goodness of Jesus

Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil…  Acts 10:38

It’s a good thing none of us is God. Try as we might to be selfless, kind, and generous, if somebody gets into our business or messes with our kids, our goodness goes right out the window. Being the Messiah may have looked easy when everybody was cheering Him on, but what about when they wanted to throw Him over a cliff? (Luke 4:29) Gratitude from the masses was wonderful, but what about when no one was thanking Him? (Luke 17:17) It’s not hard being good to good people, but what about when some jerk cuts you off in traffic, customer support is not supportive, or the teacher is mean to your kid? We tend to ignore the good Jesus did because He was, after all, God. But maybe going around doing good wasn’t as easy as He made it look.

One amazing truth about Jesus is that He never asks us to do anything He has not already demonstrated for us. He tells us to forgive after He forgives us, He tells us to obey God’s commands and then obeyed them perfectly, He tells us to love one another and then He laid down His life for us. Being a Jesus follower means that we’ve chosen to walk in His direction.  We want to match our steps with His, stay in His shadow. So if He went around doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil, that should be #1 on our To-Do list. Being relentlessly good happens whether people deserve it or not. Whether we feel like it or not. It’s not a photo op. When we’ve been transformed by Jesus, we want to be relentlessly good because He is.

Final Thought:  What would your world look like if your goal was to be as relentlessly good as Jesus is?
Prayer: Father, the motivations for my acts of charity are not always honorable. Sometimes I do good so people will like me or notice me. Change my motives. Keep my eyes on you. I want to do good because Jesus did it first. In His name, Amen.