“’Good Morning!’ said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat. ‘What do you mean?’ he said. ‘Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?’ ‘All of them at once,’ said Bilbo” –The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
If you know me very well at all, you already know I am a huge fan of Tolkien, so it came as no surprise to you that I would begin a story with a quote from one of his books. I have always been amused by this scene at the beginning of The Hobbit. Bilbo does what any good-mannered person would do and wishes Gandalf a good morning, little expecting the barrage of questions that followed. It’s quiet common to hear people wish each other a good morning or good day, especially here in the south where it is just part of how we were raised. It’s just something polite we all say to one another.
I was challenged to think a little bit differently recently when I read an article by Dr David Jeremiah where he brought up the importance of living godly lives. As I read the article he had written, I realized that perhaps we have it all wrong. Maybe I’m wrong, but it occurred to me that it is quite possible that God is more concerned with whether we have a godly day than He is if we have a good day. It could just be that God is much more concerned with us behaving in a godly way that pleases Him than He is with us having a good day. Perhaps in His sight, the only way to have a good day is to have a godly one.
Being a writer my imagination tends to be quite active, so I had no trouble envisioning myself telling God “Good morning” only to hear this unexpected answer from Him. “What do you mean? Do you simply want to wish Me a good morning, or do you mean that you want it to be a good morning; or are you asking Me to make it a good morning; or perhaps are you saying that this is a morning for you to be good on?” Hmmm, that would definitely cause me to do some quick thinking. Perhaps I should go with the “this is a morning for me to be good on”.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is not important if I have a good day; what matters most is if I have godly day. “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” Eph. 2:10. God has created me for a purpose and part of that includes living a godly life that bears witness to the One whom I belong to. I was made to glorify God and I cannot do that if I am not living a godly life. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” John 15:8.
We will only “bear much fruit” when we are living godly lives led by the Holy Spirit. When we surrender to the Spirit’s work in our lives, He can bring much fruit into our lives. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” Galatians 5:22. If we are led by the Spirit, this fruit will be evident in our lives and we will learn to be more concerned about having a godly day than we are about having a good day. We will learn to be far more concerned with whether or not we are pleasing God than we are about pleasing ourselves.
There is something else that will change as we begin to be more led by the Spirit in our lives. We will begin to be more concerned about leaving a godly impression on people than we are about leaving a good impression on them. The truth is that while many of us may often worry whether or not we left a good impression on someone, we seldom worry if we left a godly impression on them. If nothing else we should be very concerned as children of God that we are leaving a godly impression on the people we meet. It should be far more important to us that they see Him in us than if they think well of us.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” Matthew 5:16. Every person we meet should see His reflection in us. With every person we meet, we have a brief opportunity to show them a glimpse of the One we serve. We are His ambassadors and should be doing our best to remember that we are here to represent Him to the world around us. And in case you haven’t noticed, this world desperately needs to see Him. We need to be willing to share Him with all those He places within our sphere of influence.
My challenge to you, my friend, and to myself as well is this. Let us learn to be more concerned about having a godly day than having a good day. Let us learn to be more aware of whether or not we are leaving a godly impression with those we meet than if we are leaving a good impression of ourselves. May we all learn to be more concerned about what He thinks than anyone else. May pleasing Him be our highest priority. May we learn to make it our goal to seek to do our absolute best each day to glorify Him in all that we say and do. May we truly become godly in every way.
You are the light of the world. Matthew 5:14
Grace and peace,
Katrina Douglas
