BLESSED EXHORTATIONS (PART 12)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Hebrews 13:16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through Jesus, Christians are to offer up sacrifices of praise to God.

That was yesterday’s blessed exhortation, the eleventh in this series.

Do you remember what would happen when a believer did this, when they consistently and persistently showed gratitude to God for all He did to same them through Jesus, His Son?

Verse 15 of chapter 13 shared that lifting up praises to God through Christ would serve as wonderful fruit from the lips, fruit that would not only speak to the Christian’s righteousness but also be pleasing in the Lord’s sight.

Now, when a disciple is living their life focused on mimicking the way Jesus lived, a way that will set them apart from the world (aka living in holiness) as they live to please God the Father, then something wonderful happens.

God imparts the goodness of His blessings on the believer.

Verse 28 of Romans 8 affirms this:

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

God works all things for the good of the Christian believer who places their full trust in Him and continually offers up sacrifices of praise. Then in turn, we can share His goodness with others. This is at heart of today’s exhortation from verse 16:

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

We sacrifice our praises to God. We are also to sacrifice His goodness by doing good to others.

In other words, Christian believers become an extension of God’s goodness, the instruments through which He can extend His goodness to others.

You see, in and of ourselves, no one can be considered “good”. Even Jesus didn’t consider Himself good. You may remember these words from Him:

A certain ruler asked Him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

Luke 18:18-19

Jesus proclaimed that no one was good except God the Father. In other words, if any believer is going to be good, they first must receive the goodness of God before extending goodness to someone else.

Need one more verse on this matter. Consider this from James, the brother of Jesus:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” James 1:17

The God of infinite goodness extends some of that good to those who love Him, those called according to His purpose. The receivers of that goodness can then sacrifice it to others, a conduit of goodness to those God wishes to give it to.

The blessed exhortation is simple.

Do good to others by sharing God’s goodness with them.

Every day, we have an opportunity to do just that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.