{"id":5744,"date":"2021-09-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5744"},"modified":"2021-05-21T18:11:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T23:11:29","slug":"not-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5744","title":{"rendered":"Not Good Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When my grandfather was dying several years ago, I went to spend a week with him in the foothills of the Ozarks in southeast Missouri. He was in his late 80s and had lived a long, peaceful life. Everyone called him Uncle Doug and he was well-respected in his farming community. He was a gentle man who became a Christian at a young age. He was a deacon who went to a little Baptist church every Sunday where he taught Sunday school for decades. He helped strangers and neighbors alike, and never said one unkind word about anyone. When I say never, I mean never\u2014not even in the privacy of his own home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my grandmother died during a pneumonia epidemic, my grandfather promised her he would never remarry. I\u2019m not saying that was a wise thing to promise, but to illustrate the level of integrity my grandfather had, he never remarried in those 60 years after her death. He had every little widow lady in the county chasing him, but he never remarried because his word was his bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People said if Uncle Doug said something was so, it was so. And at his funeral I heard not one but several people say, \u201cWell if Uncle Doug doesn\u2019t make it to heaven, there is no chance for the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would be surprised to know that when I spent that week with my grandfather, I came into his room and found him crying. Thinking he was ill, I asked what I could get for him. What did he need? Did he need pain medication? No\u2014he was crying because he felt like he was a sinner. He hadn\u2019t done enough for God. He wasn\u2019t good enough to meet his Maker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now some might say, \u201cHow sweet! He was such a humble man.\u201d Yes, he was humble. He was so humble he didn\u2019t even realize how God had worked through him to touch the lives of others, including mine. I think that\u2019s a wonderful thing. However, I found it quite sad for him to be facing the end of his life feeling God was displeased with him because he wasn\u2019t good enough. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s where our focus should be because in some twisted way it becomes all about us instead of all about God. It is because Jesus lives in us that we can rest in peace. I prayed for God to give my grandfather peace and He did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, many do not understand that it\u2019s not about our goodness\u2014it\u2019s about God\u2019s greatness. It\u2019s Jesus living in us that gives our life value (Galatians 2:20). We can never be good enough to earn God\u2019s love, so He freely gives it to us (Romans 5:8). If we could be good enough, we wouldn\u2019t need God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.\u201d ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026 When my grandfather was dying several years ago, I went to spend a week with him in the foothills of the Ozarks in southeast Missouri. He was in his late … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}