Daily Delight
Good is bad when it keeps you from the best. In the right context, this is true. But for me in all my perfectionism and striving I took it to mean that what’s in front of me isn’t enough, even bad, and I should reach for something better.
When you apply this mindset to the Christian life you constantly breed loads of discontentment. So, I started asking, how do I get ‘ok’ in the middle, in the not yet, and in the could be? How do I become satisfied but still hungry for all that you want to give me? When is good, good enough?
And I heard, “Best is the enemy of good.” That was so true for me, constantly reaching for the newer thing, the next level, the even better, that I didn’t appreciate the goodness in front of me.
In our culture, good is just a stepping stone to best, we don’t stop at good. Its marked with limitations, good can only last for so long until it becomes best and once you’ve reached best you’re done.
But when God calls something good, He’s not calling it mediocre or second-best. When He created the Earth, the animals, and humans, rested from His work, sat back and called it “good” (Gen. 1:31 NASB) He wasn’t thinking, “Well, this could be better.” When He deems something as good He’s identifying His nature in it because He is where goodness originated. God can never be second-best so why would we think that what He gives is second-best? Goodness is limitless because it’s part of Him. There’s no arriving at ‘best’ we just keep seeing more of His goodness. But when we’re stressed with trying to reach the best we’re blinded to the goodness in front of us.
There’s no need to strive for what’s next even when we’re wanting more of the Lord. He promised His goodness to you and will keep giving it to you. As we thank God for the goodness He’s placed in our lives, sit back and enjoy it, we’ll be able to see even more of it. There’s no arriving at best, that would be limiting, there’s just more and more goodness. It just keeps getting better and better.
