By Victor E. Pearson
Does it ultimately matter if you are a “good” person or not? Only if God as described in the Holy Bible really exists and will judge you after your death does it certainly matter. So if God really does exist, shouldn’t you understand what being a “good” person means?
Do you think that you are a good person? If so, whose definition of “good” do you use to determine that you are as you claim to be, a “good” person?
Are you establishing yourself as being a “good” person based on comparing yourself to someone you know or have heard about who has been for example, arrested, stood trial, and found guilty of some sort of crime which you have not been? Are you centering yourself as a “good” person because you do a lot of “good” things to help others? Using some combination of both?
When you are comparing yourself to other people to determine that you are a “good” person, do you always use the same person or people when you do your comparison of you against them? Or do you just use the same kind of person meaning that it is someone you “think” you are always better than?
Can you even know that you are a “good” person if there is no absolute standard of “good” for which clearly defines just what “good” is that applies to everyone equally? No, you cannot know that you are a “good” person if there is no absolute standard of “good” defined that applies to everyone equally. So without a standard which applies equally to everyone, no one knows whose “good” or not.
Thankfully, you and I do not have to live our life in question of an absolute definition of the word, “good.” God is the absolute standard definition of “good” defined. Jesus said in Mark 10:18 that no one is “good” except God alone. This means that you and I are not good. We (you and I) are not “good” because we are all guilty of something. Be it that we are guilty of telling a little white lie or of our perpetrating a huge scam which cost thousands of people millions of dollars and their livelihoods or even their life, we are all guilty of sinning against God (Romans 3:9).
The Good News (Gospel) is that even though you and I have sinned against God, we still can receive Christ Jesus as our savior. By our receiving Christ Jesus, we can be justified as a gift through the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-26).
This means that our boasting about how “good” we “think” we are doesn’t count for anything. What it takes to be “good” in God’s eyes is perfection—and you and I are not at all perfect. Only through our having placed our faith in Christ Jesus is what counts in God’s eyes as all else we do fails to meet His standards of “good” (Romans 3:27-28).
So whose definition of “good” do you use? I use the definition Jesus gave us in Mark 10:18. Knowing the truth really does matter in the end, doesn’t it?###
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For more information on Victor E. Pearson, visit http://findingtruthtoday.typepad.com/finding-truth-today
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