As a class, go over your answer to Sunday's question. What is the distinction between "being" good and "doing" good?

   When we talk about being good , Jesus Himself states that no one
   is good but God. Therefore our good is in the degree to which we
   display the righteousness of Christ. Our goodness is the degree
   to which we exhibit the fruit of His Spirit.

   It is possible for any person to do good and not be good. I believe
   this is possible but the question is it sustainable. You can
   only fake something for so long. And the real question is of
   motive ,and from where do these good things come.

   To one individual the good that they do comes natural to another
   the good that they do is a drudgery and burden. One is simply a
   religion of works and the other is one of works by faith through
   love.

   The real question is what is your essential nature. Have you given
   your heart to Christ and does He have your best energies.

Read carefully Ellen White's statement about how all those who join themselves to the church but not to the Lord will soon reveal their true character. What does that mean? Why should we each ask ourselves which category we truly belong in? How can we know for sure the answer?


   This statement speaks to what is necessary for true conversion.
   The person who has just been joined to the church has simply
   had an external experience with no internal change. For
   a period of time they may be able to keep up an act but
   in time they will grow tired and their true nature will
   be revealed.

   We must always be in a state of examining our hearts so that
   we may be sober as to our true state before God. We must not
   deceive ourselves in to thinking that we are something that
   we are not. Therefore is is necessary to constantly seek after
   a greater surrender to God and a greater likeness to Jesus
   Christ.

   The only way that you know is to answer the question who
   has your heart? Who has your best energies and your most
   sincere thoughts. We should not calculate our standing
   with God based on our occasional good deeds and occasional
   bad deeds but upon the trend of our lives.

Imagine two folk: One is a Seventh-day Adventist who knows and believes all the doctrines-state of the dead, Second Coming, 1844, and so on. This person, however, is mean, harsh, judgmental, and unloving. There's another person who, while professing faith in Christ, has rejected all these teachings, accepting what we would deem as theological error. Yet, this person is kind, forgiving, loving, and nonjudgmental, everything the "orthodox" Adventist isn't. Though, of course, we don't know hearts, if you had to guess which one was closer to the kingdom of God, whom would you choose, and why? What does your answer imply about what you deem is important in Christianity?

   I would say that person who most closely resembles the life of Jesus is
   the one that is closer to the kingdom of God. The purpose of the truth
   is to make us more like Jesus. But if it does not then there is something
   wrong. The thing is the the person who does not have all the truth can
   be helped to come to an understanding. But the person who already knows
   these truths is in a greater danger of being lost.

   In Christianity the most important thing that is that we become more
   like Jesus. If we are not manifesting the Character of Christ in our
   day to day lives then something is wrong. We must ask for the grace of
   God , and for the righteousness of Christ.

Prayer: Father we thank you for one more year. We thank you that we made it to the other side of a new decade. I pray that you will help us this new year to be more like you. Take us to the place that you want us to be in 2010. Bless us as we prepare for your Sabbath. Thank you in Jesus name Amen.