God is Good
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“ And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” – Mark 10:17-18[/perfectpullquote]When I was in high school, I had a teacher who would consistently ask me how I was doing, and I would consistently respond with “Good.” Without hesitating he would then reply, “There is none good, except for God.” I don’t think he was trying to correct my grammar, since “good” is grammatically accepted, but I should have responded by saying, “I am doing well.” Why?
Because just like my teacher said, I am not good, especially when compared with God. The word “good” used in Mark 10:17-18 can refer to many things, but in this context, I think it means righteous. The man who approached Jesus called Him righteous because he thought his own righteousness was enough to get him into heaven. I mean, why not? If we continue to read this passage we will notice that this man believed that he had kept every commandment since he was a young boy, but Jesus showed him that he was lacking something. This man had great wealth, and he didn’t want to give it up. It’s easy to just skim through this passage and not take to heart what it really teaches – God is holy and we, as fallen beings, will never be good enough to be worthy of heaven. Let that sink in.
In today’s social climate, we are being constantly bombarded how one ethnicity or political party or social status is better than all the others. It has gotten so bad that if we disagree on a matter, we then become enemies and we have to destroy one another. Even we as Christians spend quite a bit of time fighting amongst ourselves. We demand our own way, and we forget that only God is good and that is where our focus should lie. We need to remember that God loves everyone. We need to constantly remind ourselves to see people the way the Lord sees them. There is so much hate, and it needs to stop.
Does this mean that we should allow sinners to continue to sin and be affirming of those who believe differently than we do? No. We should fight for the truth, but we need to do it in a loving way. Now, fighting with love doesn’t sound possible, does it? We fight with love when our ultimate goal is to worship, honor, and glorify God instead of ourselves or our ideals. If we go back to the man who approached Jesus on Mark 10, was he following the Jewish law to glorify God or himself? He wanted to show others how good he was so that others would have a desire to be like him – to achieve what he achieved. Jesus had a different plan for his life when he showed him that following the Law really means to put God first, others second, and ourselves last. That was the one thing that the man was not able to do.
So, what about you? Do you do good things so that others can see how worthy you are of heaven? Do you do good things to earn fame and wealth? Once we realize that only God is good, we can start making decisions that will glorify and honor Him. The next time somebody asks you “How are you doing?” how will you respond? Don’t respond with “good.” Why?
Because only God is good.
– Pastor David Guenin
