A Good Thing or a God Thing

There are many good things we can do, but, Mother Thersa once said that "We must be careful not to make good things, God things." Those activities not born out of the Spirit will result in wood, hay, and stubble. What may seem good in our eyes may not be so in God's eyes. For instance, if you decide to build an orphanage but God has never directed you to do so, then God will not see that work as good; it was born out of your own strength, even though it was a "good work."

It was a good thing for me to pastor the little church in Alert Bay. The church was even growing. I was beginning to have an impact on the community. It was a good thing. But as I look back, it was "my" thing. I made it almost impossible for the church board not to accept my offer of service. They were so needy, and I was so gifted. And, it would be easy to see my failure as a work of the enemy, but the truth of the matter is, that I was doing more harm than good. It was not a God thing. The work that I saw as so good did not stand under the pressure. New believers floundered and when I was no longer there to hold them up, returned to their old ways. It was really all about me. It was not a God thing.

"We do not dare compare ourselves with those who think they are very important. They use themselves to measure themselves, and they judge themselves by what they themselves are. This shows that they know nothing. But we will not brag about things outside the work that was given to us to do. We will limit our bragging to the work that God gave us..." (2 Cor. 10:12-13).

We must truly be careful that we do not take good things and make them God things