Study 13 - 2007: June 4th - 10th 2007

How Good Are You Really?

“There was much whispering about Jesus in the crowd. “He’s a good man,” some people said. “No” others said, “he is misleading the people.” But no one talked about him openly, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities”. John Chapter 7:verses 12 to 13 (Good News Bible).

How good a golfer are you? Well that really depends on how you measure good. A 27handicap golfer is a good player to someone who plays for the 1st time. I remember having about 130 strokes in my first game of golf; that is about 60 over par. A 27 handicapper was a good player to me. But then again a 27 handicapper would probably not consider himself or herself a good player compared to one who plays off a single figure handicap. And a single figure handicapper would not consider himself or herself good in comparison to the professional player playing for a living. Also, every professional playing for a living will measure how good he or she is according to Tiger Woods or Lorena Ochoa.

The problem with how we measure goodness today is the standard by which we measure it. I hear people often say that; “he or she is a good person”. At almost every funeral I have attended or conducted the goodness of the deceased person is always affirmed. We all have the tendency to want to be seen to be good.
I am reminded that Jesus once said that God alone is good. (Matthew Chapter 19: verse 17). Could this be true?

What Jesus means here is that when it comes to goodness, and other similar words like purity and perfection, God alone has these qualities in completeness and there are no shades of bad, impurity or faults with God! With all honesty we cannot say this of ourselves. I have met some who dispute this, but I do not think they are honest.

This is not to say we cannot do good things, because we can, but it is to say that our nature has a leaning towards things that are not good like corruption, ignoring God, stealing from others, being selfish, lying and protecting ourselves.
Listen to Psalm 14 verse 2 and 3:

“ The Lord looks down from heaven at mankind to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him. But they have all gone wrong; they are equally bad. No one of them does what is right, not a single one.”
If we apply this to golf, in reality there is no good golfer, because we all have to deal with our slices, hooks and miss putts, even Tiger.

You may feel this is too harsh, but with all honesty, we have lowered the bar when it comes to goodness today. Some go as far to promote that goodness and evil are just shades of one reality. With so much of our recent theatre and movies; it is hard to tell who are the good and the bad.

When the crowds were discussing what they thought of Jesus, his teaching and miracles, some thought; “he was a good man”. Others were worried and concerned about how he was unsettling their religious life and misleading the people in a new kind of teaching.

Because we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the exact likeness of God and is God, then it is right to call Jesus good. God is good and has no shades of darkness or deceit in his character.

The good news that Jesus brings through his dying for our sins on a cross and rising from the dead is that we can be forgiven for our lack of goodness. We simply need to seek God’s forgiveness and to want to live a live that pleases God.

Prayer, Lord God, help us to do good in life while always being honest about the times we are not, and help us not to cover this under the carpet, but to seek your forgiveness and mercy. Amen.