"good" isn't enough

I have struggled with this post for ages. I have struggled with how exactly to put my thoughts on being "good" in order so that they make some sort of sense. Until now, I have come away sounding something like a lunatic.

Being good is important. It is. I think we need more "good" in this world. Seems like there is sooooo much bad....we need some positive stuff, some good, to at least somewhat balance things out.

Here's what has my heart hurting...
Someone told me that their neighbor isn't a Christian, but he is "better than most Christians I know". Another told me that his sister is "more moral than most of the people I go to church with and she doesn't even believe in Christ." Still another told me that she has a difficult time believing that Jesus is the only way to heaven when she knows so many good people who don't believe in Jesus and so many hateful people who do believe in Him.

I have struggled with just how to express the fact that "good" behavior isn't enough. Good behavior isn't the point. We need Christ. We need Christ to change our hearts. We don't need to change what we DO, we need Christ to change who we ARE.

I read the following recently and it struck a chord with me:

"Goodness without Christ is powerless to prevent itself from becoming self-righteousness;
purity without Christ is powerless to prevent itself becoming pride..."
You can read the rest of this post at Shiny Ginger Thoughts.

THAT is what I see. When we don't allow Christ to change the very fiber of WHO we ARE, we become prideful, self-righteous, judgmental, pious church members.

We don't need to be "good". We need the powerful all-mighty earth-shattering life-altering soul-changing touch of Jesus Christ. Being good isn't enough. Being a good church member isn't enough.

We need Jesus.

Scripture says this:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)