Wrong. Romans 3:12 tells us that "there is no one who does good, not even one." And when the rich young ruler addresses Jesus as a "good" teacher in Luke 18, Jesus is quick to respond "no one is good - except God alone."
It's pretty clear from Scripture that we're not good. That we aren't moral enough, nice enough or do enough right things to ever be considered good. That title remains for God alone. ONLY Jesus is good & apart from Him & outside of a relationship with Him - we're no good.
I think a common mistake we make in thinking we're good is when we compare ourselves to others. We think we're pretty good when we can see others committing "bigger" sins that we stay away from. Surely we're good in the regard?
Wrong again. You see, Jesus is the standard for goodness. Not others. Jesus sets the most perfect standard for being perfectly good. If we're not like Him - we're not good. It doesn't matter if we're "better" than others. Our standard is Christ.
But here's the hope: Jesus MAKES us good. In becoming a Christian, Jesus changes you from in the inside out. You become a new creation full of new life, and you turn away from your former sinful self. You become what Jesus has called you to become - and you become good. You take on the character of Jesus & clothe yourself with His goodness.
There's a great clip from the film Get Low that brings us a great challenge:
The great line states "If you don't do this by yourself, you'll never know if you're any good. And you'll never be good, if you don't know that you are."
So. KNOW Jesus has made you good. LIVE good in His standard. DO good to others.
JV
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