By Ron van Leerdam
Like the Prodigal son who finds his father’s arms wide open welcoming him back into his family, see’s the fatted calf prepared for the feast. There is real joy at being reconciled to our Heavenly Father.
However, the Christian does not only experience a heartfelt joy in God through Christ but also delights to do every kind of good as God wants him to.
The testimony of Paul expresses this joy,
This truth: “It is no longer that I live, but Christ that lives in me,” was because he had come to know the power of God’s love in Christ.
Because Jesus lives in us we delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to. Is it always our delight to every kind of good as God wants us to?
If we are honest, this is not always true. There is the sin that hinders us, clings to us.
We are engaged in a fight against our sinful nature and Satan is always trying to tempt us.
We are not in heaven yet. Readers,
We claim spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection
Life can be a bit like riding a roller coaster. There are the highs and the lows – sometimes deep lows where we are despairing of life itself. Remember the day you married, the day a child was born and other times of great happiness. But there have been days of grief, sorrow; tears.
We also have spiritual highs – we gained victory over a particularly stubborn character defect. The low comes when we relapse doing what we desperately wanted to overcome
You know what your weaknesses are – sometimes we are blind to them until someone points it out. It is because of this fact that we must ask God to work in our hearts with his spirit so that we delight to do His will. This process of sanctification is not completed in a moment or even in a life-time.
We will continue to sin and fall short of perfection. However, we do good because Christ by His spirit is renewing us to be like Himself.
We have a new nature. The old is dead, we are now alive to God.
By God’s grace and with his help and strength we delight to do every kind of good as God wants. Not grudgingly or because we must but because God has redeemed us.
We obey Jesus commandment because he has saved us.
Seeking first God’s kingdom,
“God, your kingdom come, your will be done in all our lives.”
In our entertainment, leisure time, possessions, christian giving, setting aside time for His work, all of our life is to be dedicated to God.
This leads us to our final point. What are good works? The Catechism gives us 3 standards, or tests.
1. GOOD WORKS ARISE OUT OF TRUE FAITH.
The bible says in Hebrews, “It is impossible to please God without faith in God.” We must believe that God is! Because He made us, we put our trust in Him the living God.
God distinguishes between acts that to all outwards purposes are the same. There are non-christians who do good things. However, the non-christians work is no good in God’s sight because they do not have that relationship with God, their life is one of rebellion against God.
God weighs or tests the heart and motivation.
IS THE GOOD DONE OUT OF GRATITUDE TO GOD IN FAITH?
2. IT MUST CONFORM TO GOD`S LAW.
God’s law, not the opinion of society or tradition is the standard by which we are to test whether a work or an action is good.
3. IT HAS TO GLORIFY GOD.
Our Lord weighs the heart and looks at our motives.
Do I seek to glorify God or myself?
If we find ourselves failing in our fight against sin, or we find no delight in doing good works there are two possible reasons.
- We do not really know Christ personally. We can know about Him, know what the church teaches, what the confessions are, and yet not know Him personally, as our saviour, as our friend who we talk to day and night, as the Lord who we listen to and follow moment by moment, day by day, year by year.
- Perhaps we are not totally committed – our love is luke-warm, not hot nor cold. God said of the Jews, “This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me.” Jesus wants all of us.
May our lives be characterised by a daily turning from sin to God, in true faith doing His will.
However, let us never forget.
We have been changed by the grace of God.
We work by the grace of God.
We do good by the grace of God.
To Him alone be the praise and the Glory.
Let us pray for the Lord’s blessing on the work we do for His glory. Let us never despair when we make a mistake. Remember,
SPIRITUAL PROGRESS – NOT SPIRITUAL PERFECTION.
https://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/44.html
AMEN.
Mama by the water 
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