To Cultivate Perfect Goodness
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August 30, 2015 |
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 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
In general, when people see someone suppress his hard feeling, they think that he is a good person. But this is not perfect goodness in God's sight. The goodness recognized by God is not to have any ill feeling towards people who do evil to us and moreover, to move their hearts with good words and deeds. In addition, God wants us to cultivate perfect goodness that can give our own lives for our enemies.
Then, let's look into three checkpoints to accomplish perfect goodness as God's children.
1. You have to check whether you try to give life to others or suppress them.
John 6:63 reads, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." Spirit gives life. It gives strength to others to fill them with the Spirit, and lets them change and gain eternal life.
Jesus did not break a bruised reed nor put out a smoldering wick. He did not reveal the evil of the people: the woman who had committed adultery; Judas Iscariot, who would betray and sell Him out; or the Pharisees and scribes who tried to attack Him all the time. He just tried to open a way to give life to them. This is the good heart of the Lord.
On the other hand, those who are not good-hearted will just break bruised reeds because they don't look good. They put out smoldering wicks to prevent them from making smoke and soot. They insist on their own opinions and ignore and suppress others to do so.
As you perform your duties, you will come across people who have different personalities. Then, do you choose to give life to them or try to suppress them with your own opinions? Suppose you are having a meeting, and a member often opposes your opinion. Here, you may feel uncomfortable thinking like, 'She always opposes my opinions. Is it that she is looking down on me?' So, without even hearing her opinion well, you may just reject it outright.
Also, if you have not cultivated goodness in your heart, you try to suppress others while pretending to be giving life. For example, suppose you often have conflicts with another church worker due to different personalities. One day, your parish pastor asks you about the worker, "How is she doing?"
And you without hesitation may reply, "Pastor, I was actually thinking about talking to you about her. I feel very sorry for her. She misses the prayer meetings and always has conflicts with others. So, people around her have a hard time in her presence. It may be hard for her, too. Pastor, please help her." In fact, you are in conflict with her, but you do not blame it on yourself just blaming her even talking about others.
In this case, you may just want the parish pastor to make her bend and change. But if you do not realize such a desire, you may just think that you spoke words of goodness, being concerned about the other person. I hope you will be able to check your words and actions as to whether they are to give life to others or to make them submit to you.
2. You should check whether you want to take the credit, though you say you are working for God's glory.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Those who have faith eat and sleep to get the strength to work for God's kingdom and to glorify Him. If they have this kind of heart, God will accept their aroma even when they are just eating and sleeping.
However, some people work hard on the outside, but inside they seek their own glory, and thus they cannot get any heavenly rewards.
Your duty of service, helping the needy, preaching, and taking care of the souls is such a precious duty. If the souls are saved and blessed and when there is a revival through your hard work, you will give glory to God and you will receive blessings both in spirit and body. But in this faithfulness, I urge you to check whether or not you want to take the credit yourself.
Say you have somebody to evangelize, and you offered prayers and fasting for her. Sometimes you gave her what she needed and served her devotedly. Eventually she opened her mind and was about to come to church. But one day, another church member brought her to the church and she was registered under the member's name. Would you have hard feelings thinking like, 'How can she do this? She knows how hard I tried to bring her to the church, and she just takes the credit.' If you have goodness, you won't think so.
Let me give you another example. One cell leader does her best in her cell, so there is revival and the members' faith increases. But one day, there was re-organization. Her cell was divided and a part was taken and put under the charge of another cell leader. If you only seek God's glory and care for the souls, what would you think and do? You would help the members get acquainted with the new leader. On the contrary, if you have some kind of resentment thinking like, 'This is my fruit. I raised them with my hard work, and my work was in vain. My cell became smaller,' then it means you are seeking your own glory.
If you seek your own glory, your faithfulness can change any time. If you do not have fruits quickly, or if you cannot take the credit for the good fruits borne, then you'd feel that you are tired and your passion will cool down. I hope you will not seek your own glory at all, and just seek the glory of God alone and completely. Only then will all your faithfulness be rewarded as eternal rewards and glory.
3. You should check whether you are caring for others, or you want others to care for you.
Acts 20:35 says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." As you fulfill your duties, naturally you try to give rather than to receive. You will care for the souls who are weak and who have problems, as you'd care for your own family. But if the fullness of the Spirit goes down for a moment, you could feel the desire to receive.
You may think like, 'How come I do not receive any blessings although I have been working so hard?' Now your fleshly thoughts just keep on increasing such as: 'I worked harder than others but nobody knows it.' Now, you think more about your own problems whereas you used to consider the problems of the souls first.
You might think like, 'Is the parish pastor praying for me? When others were going through trials, she visited them often and even fasted for them, but she is not really doing anything for me!' If others advise you to be more faithful, you may just feel bad and think, 'They just try to point out my fault without understanding my situation.'
Although you have worked as a leader in church and heard the messages of goodness for a long time, if you have not cultivated the goodness in you, eventually your real heart will be revealed. That is, rather than trying to care for others' minds, you would want others to understand you and serve you.
Jesus was hung on the cross though He was innocent. Even then, He did not lament the pain He was having. He tried to comfort the heart of God who was mourning and prayed for the souls who would remain. You can go into whole spirit quickly only when you try to see the pains of others rather than your own. You should understand others' hearts and help them.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God is the perfect Light that has no evil or shifting shadow. Also, just as He is perfect, He wants us to be perfect as His children. I urge you to check your heart, words, and deeds and increase your faith quickly. I pray in the name of the Lord that by doing so you will cultivate perfect goodness, not the fleshly goodness that comes from the knowledge or self-righteousness.
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