Being Good.

What does it mean to be a good person? Our culture believes that just by being, you are good. The murderer thinks he is a good person, but has just made a mistake. We have been taught by modern psychology that thinking yourself good is the key to self-esteem. We must tell ourselves that we are good. This is an idol that must be sustained at all costs, or our world comes crashing down.

However, just by thinking yourself good does not make it so. How would you define good? Is it a self-forgetfulness and a focus on the good of others? Is it assisting the poor and the addict? Is it volunteering in the community, etc.? Is being good what you do, or does it have more to do with character and your relation to reality?

What does the Bible tell us? “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ Their feet are swift to shed blood: in their paths they have no know.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-18). This is not a pretty picture, and it does nothing to build up our self-esteem in the world’s way.

If you compare yourself to Hitler, you may think yourself good. However, if we compare ourselves to Jesus, none of us without him are good. Jesus is without sin and holy. No one also naturally fears God or respects Him. Our nature is oriented towards evil, although we may restrain it. Our whole orientation must be changed to be good. We need a nature transplant, and it is supernatural.

Honestly, look inside your life without Christ, and there is darkness and that darkness can be rooted out only in Jesus Christ and after conversion progressively and continually. “That is one reason why the thinkers of the ancient world turned to Christ in the early centuries of the Christian era. They became convinced that he was the key to human transformation toward goodness." Knowing Christ Today, p. 50, Dallas Willard.

To be a rebel against God is not to be a good person. This is Satan’s way, and it is not good, and Satan is the absolute antithesis of goodness. It leads to emptiness and destruction. To be a good person, we need our nature to be changed, and only God does that and that only occurs in the power of Jesus Christ. God’s word says, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

God offers the remedy for man’s condition in Jesus Christ. You become a good person because God transform you within. You are a good person when rightly related to God and experience his transformation in the “new birth” and in progressive transformation in Christlikeness. (John 3:3).

Our goodness comes only from God. Our self-esteem is centred in God and His goodness, love, holiness and justice—in his character. If you want to be good, find God, and you will find him when you search for him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Satan and evil will try to resist you at all costs. We have no glory in our own goodness; the glory absolutely belongs to God, and we need to be true in our covenant loyalty once adopted as his child. Honour him. God is good.