The phrase \u2018for goodness sake\u2019 was originally used to mean for the sake of everything good or pure or decent or honest. It has since become an exclamation, expressing feelings of frustration or despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s talk about \u201cgoodness\u201d and how we can choose daily the path of goodness over the path of despair. All of us have opportunities to think about and talk about the gloom, despair, and agonies in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can dwell on those things that have absolutely no day-brighteners in them. Sure, we can go there. But when we go THERE \u2013 we are NOT placing our trust in our God Who knows all, holds all, and His sovereignty is above all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the dictionary \u201cdespair\u201d means \u201cthe complete loss or absence of hope.\u201d Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned these words: \u201cAnd in despair I bowed my head; \u2018There is no peace on earth,\u2019 I said; \u2018For hate is strong, and mocks the song of \u201cPeace on earth, good-will to men!” Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor does He sleep! The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will to men!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every day, we face a myriad of temptations to give up and choose despair over goodness. We can dwell on what we don\u2019t have rather than what we do have. We can surrender to entertaining our minds with negative thinking, negative news-watching and negative friendships. Very little \u201cgoodness\u201d is found when we live there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We find what Shepherd David\u2019s tactical warfare plan against despair was all about. In Psalm 23, he declared: \u201cSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did he really live in the house of the Lord \u2013 hanging out at the altar because he was afraid to face combat? No. He was on the battlefield. He was chased by his enemies. He could have been in constant despair. But he chose to live in the house of the Lord in his heart and mind. David knew where the enemy was and destroyed him on sight because of where his thoughts were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When goodness is our banner, despair will run in terror. \u201cIf there be any praise, think on these things\u201d (Philippians 4:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2024 will surely bring much more despair-talk. Let\u2019s get our seatbelts on now. It is sure to be a wild ride \u201che said; she said\u201d and \u201che did; she did\u201d. We\u2019ll need lots of goodness going on in our inner man to cope with the rancor that has already started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be easy to despair. We already have mockers and scoffers when it comes to the things of God. Psalm 1:1-2 says, \u201cBlessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No fear here! For goodness sake — we must keep doing everything we can do to stand for what Jesus called \u201cfor righteousness\u2019 sake\u201d (Matthew 5:10). We must never despair, because God is on His heavenly throne and we are choosing to live in His house with Him forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The phrase \u2018for goodness sake\u2019 was originally used to mean for the sake of everything good or pure or decent or honest. It has since become an exclamation, expressing feelings of frustration or despair. Let\u2019s talk about \u201cgoodness\u201d and how we can choose daily the path of goodness over the path of despair. All of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28526,28527,1],"tags":[1210,1769,1392,28517,9548,19087,40,11526,28525,28519,695,4540,28520,24290,2762,5514],"class_list":["post-19053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-goodness-sake","category-good","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-facebook","tag-for-goodness-sake","tag-goodness","tag-henry-wadsworth-longfellow","tag-inspiration","tag-negative-thinking","tag-path-of-despair","tag-path-of-goodness","tag-peace-on-earth","tag-philippians-48","tag-shepherd-david","tag-tactical-warfare","tag-think-on-these-things","tag-trust-in-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19062,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053\/revisions\/19062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}