{"id":6015,"date":"2022-10-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6015"},"modified":"2022-08-31T18:48:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T23:48:15","slug":"good-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6015","title":{"rendered":"Good Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It Is Good to Be Thankful: Appreciation makes the world a better place\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As Christians, one of our primary goals is to participate in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We do this through prayer, plus studying and meditating on God\u2019s Word. However, we need to be incorporating what we learn into our lives. (James 1:22) After all, we were created to do good works. (Ephesians 2:9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good works do not earn us salvation. (Ephesians 2:8) We do them because we are saved. We do them because God loves us and we want to show our love to others. These good works glorify God. (Matthew 5:16) Of course, if good works are to truly glorify God, they need to align with God\u2019s will for others, not our own. Plus, we can\u2019t afford to get so busy doing these physical good works that we lose our spiritual focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is a balancing act, so we need to prioritize. When we say yes to some things, we must say no to others because we can\u2019t do it all. Trying to do too much can lead to health problems, stress, depression, anxiety, and sleeplessness. Once we get overwhelmed, we are in danger of a \u201ccrash and burn\u201d scenario. Then we are no good to anyone, especially ourselves. We can\u2019t afford to become \u201cweary in well doing.\u201d (Galatians 6:9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must admit that to avoid weariness, I have to continually guard against overcommitting. So when I\u2019m already maxes out, instead of saying yes to every good deed opportunity, worthy cause, or something I\u2019m uniquely qualified to do, I might say something like, \u201cNo thank you. I\u2019m very flattered that you asked me, but I already have a lot going on at this time. However, I\u2019ll be sure to pray that you find the right person to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve learned not to apologize, go into specifics, or over-explain. Too much detail keeps the dialogue open for discussion and possibly feeling pressured into saying yes. Believe it or not, saying no doesn\u2019t kill us. Believe it or not, someone else can do it if it really needs to be done. Believe it or not, not every project needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with setting priorities and saying no a lot, I\u2019m still a busy person. Sometimes I moan and groan about having so much to do, but if I\u2019m honest, I\u2019m thankful for what God allows me to do. It gives me a reason to get out of bed each morning and get going! If I overextend, it\u2019s really my fault not His. Christ came so I could have an abundant life. (John 10:10) I can\u2019t help but think an abundant life includes doing a few good works here and there.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cIt is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord..<\/em>.\u201d ~ Psalms 92:1 (KJV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It Is Good to Be Thankful: Appreciation makes the world a better place\u2026 As Christians, one of our primary goals is to participate in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We do this through prayer, plus studying and meditating on God\u2019s … 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":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6015"}],"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=6015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}