For Goodness Sake

For New Year’s Eve, our family members selected a lovely card to write down our yearly intentions. We mediated on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 reading it slowly aloud twice and then considering, “What is God asking for us in the new year?”

Two people selected the phrase, “Hold on to the good.” It’s a curious set of words. It is a command, “Hold on” and it is a specific thing we should cling to…what is good.

It is easy to hold on to the bad. Our minds are built to remember the negative. I see how easy it is for me to walk into a room and find what is out of place. It’s also fun to embellish how annoying someone was in line at the store, how snooty the salesperson was, how irritating the traffic.

It is also easy to hold on to resentment, frustration, and being right. It’s easier to be judgmental rather than merciful.

What am I holding on to? Would it be called good? What memories does my mind return to again and again? What news do I listen to and what do I share?

Goodness has its own healing and wholesome qualities. Goodness heals and draws us closer to one another and to God.

Goodness means working for the benefit of others, not oneself. Holding on to the good is not merely a passive state of mind but an active disciple to serve and help others. Holding on to the good means work, it means service and movement, activity, doing, and being.

I pause and consider the truth, God is good.

Thessalonians is not only asking me to hold on to the good but also to hold on to God.

What does this mean in everyday actions? God as my first thought and last meditation.

God as the center of my ideas, dreams, and plans. Holding on to God will naturally allow me to hold on to good.

For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations. – Psalm 100:5