Living up to our Potential

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV)

Everyone is built to do good things. Doing good is not just reserved for christians. I've seen many non christians do great things. We are all design to encourage, to serve, to listen, to do good works. These verses make that clear. I certainly believe that's true. So why aren't we ALL full of goodness? That goodness, for some people, is locked deep inside their heart. It is buried under lifes trials, poor circumstances, and sin. The only way that goodness reaches others, is through Jesus. The fullness of our potential is only reached through the power of Jesus Christ. Even those that do good works before receiving Christ will change when they change their motivation for doing good works. When we receive Jesus, a humbleness fills our lives and our good works explode like a volcano. We couldn't keep them inside even if we wanted to. The works flow from love and out of efforts to evangelize the lost. Service, showing love is the greatest way to convince the lost to turn to Jesus. 

The good works of a Christian has more meaning mor evalue than just doing good. If we want others to live with us in eternity, we need to actively demonstrate the love of Jesus through doing good!