Always Good but Never Better
Are you a good person? Are you a Christian? Do you worship regularly? Do you pray before meals, read your Bible, and for the most part, are you an unselfish person? If so, that is great. God is looking for people just like you for His eternal city. Heaven is going to be full of good people.
It is too bad, though, really. I mean that you are good and all – because your goodness may be your biggest spiritual problem. I bet you are one of those people who even give a little more to people who regularly serve you at Christmas-time, like maybe a mini-bonus. And you are probably the person who buys all the gifts for everyone in your family, too (even the in-laws and out-laws). And this is the time of year where you are absolutely worn down and tired because you have given all a good person can give. Because that is what you do. You already teach a Bible class. You fix meals for people who are sick or bereaved. You write cards to the elderly. You are good. Good does things like that. Good never stops being good.
But good people who are always good are rarely better. They are the ones who struggle with further instructions. They are the ones who have a hard time forgiving others. They are the ones who seem to hold people to standards which can rarely be met. Let’s face it. Good people think they are good enough. Good people don’t understand why bad people exist. Good people expect everyone to be good just like them. Good people like when the preacher tells them they are doing it right. They like to go home from a day of being good and say to themselves that they have had a good day and they have served others and now they can rest easy because all of the good boxes have been checked. They are surely going to heaven now.
When Jesus came to earth He did not come to try and fix the people who thought they were good enough. He came to heal the broken and to challenge those who were already good but were still open to being better. He could have chosen any twelve men on earth to be His disciples. Some might even say He could have chosen men that were better at being good than the ones He picked. But God is not interested in how good we are. Because He knows on our best day we are still sinners, and we are not altogether like Him. On our best day Jesus still needed to go to the cross to save us from our perceived goodness.
But don’t be discouraged, good people. Don’t stop being good. Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10:38). That’s what good does. Just realize that good can be better. And the only way good can be better is through understanding that only God is good. And good people still need to keep the commandments: ALL of them. And when good people fail, they need to repent and respond to God’s grace.
“Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’ So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’”
– Matthew 19:16-17
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