I should be in bed.

Although it's late and I need to be winding down for the night, my heart is wound up with many indefinable hopes and excitements in God and his very strange faithfulness toward me (us). If his constancy toward me was based on who I am and the character found therein, indeed there could be no sensible accounting for it. Tonight I am reminded once again of the good news of the Gospel. (I could never be reminded too much or too often.) God's faithfulness and loyalty to me is based on his ever steady character. A character filled up with mercy and tempered with justice. He looks at me and sees his perfection-- Jesus the Christ.

So in this vein, and very quickly before I turn in for the night I want to remind myself and you of Psalm 46:10. It is a verse plastered all over coffee cups and the backs of youth group t-shirts but for whatever reason feels fresh to my heart and mind tonight.

“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

How good is he!

God is good.
He is what's best.
Let's be still and look on him and know him and fill up with joy at what we see.

"With my first breath I drew in depravity, needing your mercy even in my first hour." So say my favorite lyrics from one of Bethany Dillon's newest songs.

Depravity: moral perversion; impairment of virtue; a corrupt practice; a depraved condition

I have lately and yet again been made acutely aware of my own tendency to depravity. I have a tendency to perversion. I have a tendency to corruption. I tend toward impaired virtue. Even in my good deeds and kind actions, my motives will be found tainted if truly scrutinized by the magnifying glass of honesty. Most days I feel tethered to this reality. And in some ways I am. Until I live in a new body with eternity as my reality, I will continue to live with the pock marks and scars of a broken nature.
If I were to bring this up among those of you who do not know Christ, chances are you might tell me I'm being too hard on myself, too dramatic. After all, I'm only human-- and a good human at that. What more can be expected? Perfection or something near to that?

No, indeed, when I attempt something near to perfection I will inevitably fail. When I attempt goodness I will attain the shell of it but miss the purity that motivates it truly. I am not good.

As bleak and as frustrating as this may seem to my heart and sound to your ears, it is good news when viewed against the backdrop of the Gospel. I am not good. Yet, I know the One who is. I am not capable of doing good with purely good motives. Yet, I am being made into the likeness of the One who boasts all the reality of good in his nature. Jesus came to be good for me, on my behalf, when I was and am incapable of it. This is the good news of the Gospel, and in this news I find much delight.

"For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” -Romans 3:9-12

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
-2 Cor.5:21

"He (the Father) has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." -Colossians 1:13-14

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." Proverbs 25:11

Gold was the metal of royalty during the days of King Solomon in 950 BC. Even 3000 years later gold has held its costly value. Two of the contributing factors to this are its beauty and rarity. 

Like gold, our words have the potential to cover others in loveliness. In our fast paced, me-centered culture it's sometimes difficult to slow down and think before we speak. A fitly spoken word is a rare word in the modern world. A fitly spoken word is a rare word at the grocery store checkout. A fitly spoken word is a rare word at home. A fitly spoken word is a rare word on the soccer field. A fitly spoken word is a rare word in a restaurant. A fitly spoken word is a rare word on the internet.

Not only what we say but when we say it determines a word's weight and worth. Let's speak slowly and wisely today.