This is a question that has some pretty serious meaning for us in life. Many of us may be good people. That is, we tend not to do too many bad things, and we actually try to do some good every once in a while. We may think that the good stuff we do, and the bad stuff we avoid, more than balances out the bad stuff that we do, and so we think of ourselves as good people.
I'm not here to argue against our thought that we are good. What I am more interested in today is WHY you are a good person. What is the reason for you to do good things, or to avoid doing bad things?
For many of us, an honest answer may be something like this: I'm good because it makes me feel good about myself. I like how I feel when I help someone. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and a sense of fulfillment.
Now take a moment to look over those reasons. Look at how focused they are on the self. I do good because it makes ME feel better about MYSELF. We may give a thought or two to how it helped out the other person, but a big part of it comes in what it does for me.
This is the big difference between the good that God desires for us to do in life. As I've read through the Bible time and time again, it seems that God wants us to focus the good that we do outward, away from ourselves. He wants it to be more about what our good does for others rather than for what it does for us. He wants our good to focus on how it helps others, how it makes their life better, and how it touches their lives.
That's quite a difference. It's the difference between a focus on the self and a focus on others. And we see God as a God who looks at us with a focus on us, not on Himself. We see that in a major way in Jesus, who sought out our good in taking our sins, dying in our place, rising to life, and giving us His grace-filled gifts of life and forgiveness. Jesus' life was totally focused on others, not Himself.
As Christians, Jesus will always be reflected imperfectly in our lives. We may do good, and at other times, we won't. Sometimes we'll do good with a focus on others, and we'll still find ourselves doing good with a focus on ourselves quite often. But in all of this, we find that what Jesus accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection continues to keep us as His own. Thanks be to God for that!
I'm not here to argue against our thought that we are good. What I am more interested in today is WHY you are a good person. What is the reason for you to do good things, or to avoid doing bad things?
For many of us, an honest answer may be something like this: I'm good because it makes me feel good about myself. I like how I feel when I help someone. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and a sense of fulfillment.
Now take a moment to look over those reasons. Look at how focused they are on the self. I do good because it makes ME feel better about MYSELF. We may give a thought or two to how it helped out the other person, but a big part of it comes in what it does for me.
This is the big difference between the good that God desires for us to do in life. As I've read through the Bible time and time again, it seems that God wants us to focus the good that we do outward, away from ourselves. He wants it to be more about what our good does for others rather than for what it does for us. He wants our good to focus on how it helps others, how it makes their life better, and how it touches their lives.
That's quite a difference. It's the difference between a focus on the self and a focus on others. And we see God as a God who looks at us with a focus on us, not on Himself. We see that in a major way in Jesus, who sought out our good in taking our sins, dying in our place, rising to life, and giving us His grace-filled gifts of life and forgiveness. Jesus' life was totally focused on others, not Himself.
As Christians, Jesus will always be reflected imperfectly in our lives. We may do good, and at other times, we won't. Sometimes we'll do good with a focus on others, and we'll still find ourselves doing good with a focus on ourselves quite often. But in all of this, we find that what Jesus accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection continues to keep us as His own. Thanks be to God for that!
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