Of course we want to be a good people. Certainly we want to live upright. Surely we believe standards of respect are most important.
Yet, it must be known that much of the dismissive language throughout the terrain of people is to abort God by pointing to our own goodness. Furthermore, there is not one (nor has there ever been one except the Son) person who could present their righteousness before God.
There it is God. Look at my life. I deserve entrance through your gates.
Not. Not one person is right without first absorbing the righteousness of Jesus...II Cor. 5:21.
Being a good person has so many ramifications. One can be good because of definite sacrificial living. Others may make the claim (not because they are compassionate) because they are timid and simply mean by being good they don't interfere with anyone. Regardless of excuses or explanations, none will hold up when face to face with God.
Jesus is our goodness; not our good deeds. Jesus is our hope; not our public efforts. Jesus is our certification before Father that we are to be welcomed into the new kind of life.
The claim of being good as a self-justification for anything is hazardously weak. No one is good. Jesus is. He is our all. He is our redemption. He is our reason to keep from going insane when we take a good deep look at the failures we know very well.
Being a good person isn't the call of the church. Being given to the Good Person is its insistent message.
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