“…we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith”. – 2 Thessalonians 1:11
When I looked up the word goodness, the definition I got was this: “The state of being good”. At first I kind of laughed; it told me absolutely nothing. Or so I thought. But when I reflected on it a little longer, I found myself focusing on ‘the state of being’ part. It does not say doing, it says being.
Goodness is a state of being. Our work often traps us into doing stuff all the time. We have timelines, goals, work-plans, deadlines and deliverables. Those are all important things of course, but what about setting aside time to just be. When do we pray? Meditate? Reflect? Listen? Are those things part of our days?
What does it mean to be good? The word good is one of the fruits of the spirit that has an obvious opposite; bad. So, to be good means not being bad. Need more help than that? I thought so.
God is good; we see that reflected all throughout scripture. So to be good is to do our best to be more like God. Since Christians have Jesus as our human example of God, we do our best to be more like Jesus was. He cared for the poor. Healed the sick. Welcomed strangers/refugees. Visited prisoners. Gave sight to the blind. Plus, He took time out of His busyness to be alone to pray.
That’s all good!
Let’s continue to strive to ‘be’ good while we attempt to be ‘The Hand of God in the Heart of the City’.
Peace,
Dion
Prayer for Goodness
God of infinite goodness
Forgive me for being so busy all the time
For taking pride in my busyness
For forgetting to take time to pray
To just ‘be’ with you each day
I want to be good
I want people to see goodness in me
by not just what I do
but by who I am
Help me today to slow down
and notice your goodness all around me
In the sky, the trees, the flowers, in all of your creation
In my work, family and friends
In everyone I meet
Help me to see the good
And not the bad
In the people that come to us for help
Not just their deficits, needs, and wants
But their gifts, dreams, skills, and hopes
Their goodness
Help me to also see your goodness
When I look in the mirror
Amen
– Dion Oxford
Article originally published on torontohhs.org