Again! Try harder. Be better. Why is being good so easy for other people, but a struggle to many.   The sooner we accept people are different in terms of “good factor,” the sooner we can accept ourselves, and succeed in becoming good(er). 

It is not easy to be good.  And some just need more effort to do so.  It is true, that for Christians,  God Himself gives the grace “to will and work according to his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13); but He still gives us the decision to obey or not.  And though it’s easier for some to submit to God, others are more prone to knee-jerk unholy responses.  

Our responses, though,  need not be knee- jerk reaction. When we withhold immediate emotional responses, we allow the Spirit of God to fill us, to help us Obey His will and Word.  In our  lip-biting and 10-point-counting (with earnest praying!)-above-all-self-control moments, we catch up on others who were blessed with knee-jerk holy responses (praise God for them! Though many hardly understand us.).  That’s how the playing field is evened out among believers of different temperaments, maturity, genes, and experiences, in terms of being good — by defaulting to slow motion-wait-for-the-Holy Spirit- responses. 

(What the?!?) 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10. Hold your tongue. Pinch yourself. Refrain from emotional and mindless retort. Ignore anxious or malicious thoughts. 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10.  Count until you feel better (yes, that’s the Holy Spirit!), or  doze off. 😬 That’s one way to “put off your old self… be renewed in the spirit of your minds…put on the new self”; then you will be able to do the following: 

1. “Put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
2.  Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 
3. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 
4. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 
5. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 
6. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:20-32)

Yes. Again! 😊

-Ninang trying-to-be-good thoughts✨