“I am a good person”…I’ve heard this so many times. What is the standard for a ‘good person’? Is it what they do to help people, or maybe what they don’t do to hurt people? When we rate ourselves according to the world, it seems easy to think we are ‘good’. After all if we don’t rape, pillage or plunder, doesn’t that make us ‘good people’? When we are pillars in society to offer our time and money to help community needs, doesn’t that make us ‘good people’?
An important man asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.” *
This answer is a clear definition for how imperfect our own ‘goodness’ really is. It wasn’t meant to discourage us though. It only points us to the one who is good enough to give us eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. *
God in ‘His goodness’ really made us to be ‘good people’ as we receive and believe Jesus Christ died for our sins and to give us eternity. Now we can wear Jesus’ robes of righteousness. With these clean clothes, our instructions for what it means to be good people are now made easy…”He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. “*
*Scriptures are from Luke 18:18-19, John 3:16, Mic 6:8