Bad being: me being faithless, unkind, whiny, covetous, doubting, not joyful, hypocritical in love, selfish, Selfish!, dishonest, lazy,... wow... and I could go on, too.
Good being: God being faithful, kind, comforting, generous, joyful in giving, sincere in love, Selfless, genuine, diligent in teaching me.
(Note: I am not just listing these characteristics to establish intellectual facts; I really lived badly for the most of this week, but God was so gracious to me all the way through! He was so gracious, not just in physical blessings that I often make mindless laundry lists about, but much moreso in consistently and patiently teaching me how to live according to His truth. (But I didn't put His teaching into practice, most of the time. -_-;;) It is quite amazing how sinful I am, and how holy yet loving God is.)
Lessons learned:
(1) I am saved by Grace! and by no merit of my own, for I have nothing to show for it.
(2) I am a sinful human who screws things up because of my sinful, fallen flesh. ;-/
(3) God is Sovereign and works all things towards good to me anyway, because He called me for His purpose.
How great are the works of our Father?
"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." - Romans 7:14-25
This passage seems to put my life this week in a nutshell. But I suppose I haven't yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
May God show mercy.
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