"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)

Life is Like a Cookie Sheet

Last week 2 of my favorite women reminded me of a post I wrote  several years ago for our church's Ladies Ministry blog. I dug it up and it made me smile. Thought I'd share.

 

Lessons learned from a Bridal Shower, Pt 3

LIFE IS LIKE A COOKIE SHEET

I sat next to Mary and Willie and had the BEST time with them as the gifts were being opened and passed around. We talked about how you can give a new bride all the advice in the world, but nothing will really prepare her for marriage, and how you can tell a mom-to-be all you know about parenting, but nothing can prepare her for motherhood. Along with this serious conversation, we joked about slipping some of the gifts under our chairs because our (toaster, coffee maker, sheet set, etc.) needed replacing. The Bride-to-be got a WONDERFUL set of cookie sheets. (amazing what I covet these days) As I admired them, I told Mary, “I need these. Mine look just like my mom’s”. I was startled when Mary whispered in a wistful voice, “yeah, mine look like my mom’s too.” Now, I am not ABOUT to speculate on this wonderful lady’s age, but I am thinking she is closer to my Grandmother’s age than she is to mine, and at that moment, we bonded…over missing “mom” and ……of all things…cookie sheets…

And that’s when it hit me:
Cookie sheets, the new shiny ones, the ones that dark and spotted, or ones that are stained and even dented, are a lot like the women at that shower.

The new cookie sheets look so pretty, all shiny, smooth and new and so full of potential… so much like the Bride-to-be…unblemished, radiant, glowing, excited about the adventure before her. As I admired (and perhaps envied) the Bride-to-be’s youthful beauty (and her new cookie sheets), I was reminded that the old-worn out cookie sheets are the ones that make the BEST cookies and pizzas! While they appear spotted, stained, blemished, and maybe even dented here and there, they are seasoned, tried and true, reliable, durable and able to do the job well….

The same can be said of women. We may be a little rusty around the edge, a bit spotted, a little blemished, stained, and maybe even dented…not by cookies and pizzas, but by marriage, jobs, friends, pregnancies, kids, joy, laughter, heartache, and tears….. but nothing can take the place of the life experiences that influenced and made us into the women we’ve become (and are becoming) ...seasoned, tried and true, reliable, durable, and able to do the job well.

Proverbs 31:30-31 says, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

What I want

Things get all turned around and upside down so quickly.  Why is that? It always amazes me that I can get so far from where I want to be in such a short amount of time. Sometimes, when I evaluate my heart, I am not who I want to be. I'm not making any sense, am I? Okay, let me try this again.

I don't want to be one of "those" Christians who make people feel bad about themselves. I don't want to make it my "job" to make sure that people understand how "bad" they are. I don't want to be angry about people's sin or blatant disobedience to God's Word. I don't want to puff out my chest and pride-fully say "well, what comes around goes around."  I don't want to focus on where someone has BEEN or what they've DONE. 

I want...what do I want? I don't know how to put it into words. I want to be honestly heartbroken over sin.  I want to be someone who makes people WANT Christ and I want them to want Him NOT because of how bad they feel about themselves.

I want people to want Christ because of how GOOD He is....not because of how bad they are.

I mean, I was well aware of how wretched I was when Jesus drew me to himself. No one needed to tell me all the many reasons I was a bad person. The well meaning people who DID tell me how much I needed Jesus really just made me feel worse about myself. That didn't send me running to the cross. Honestly, that just made me want to give up and die.

Catching a glimpse of how GOOD Jesus is sent me running to Him.

I want to be the sort of person that people are drawn to. I want to be characterized by warmth and caring and understanding. I want to be trusted and trustworthy. I want people to feel comfortable around me. I want to offer hope and comfort...not condemnation and judgment.

At the same time, I am burdened by the sin in people's lives. I want to take them by the shoulders and shake them and scream, "Don't you see what this is doing to you? Don't you see that you are in bondage? Don't you see that this sin is what is stealing your joy and peace?" Goodness, my chest started aching just thinking about it.

So, there is the conflict. I want to show the love of Christ and share the message of Christ because I do believe that Christ is enough. I know that I don't want to be another hateful, judgmental Christian. At the same time, it burdens my heart to see people bound in sin. Still, if the goodness of Christ is what drew me to Him, then I have to believe that the goodness of Christ will draw others to him.

It is so easy to get caught up in how wrong "the world" is. It is easy and it makes me feel better about my own life because I can always find people who sin differently and more blatantly than I do. But comparison isn't the point, is it? The point is to share Christ.

I want to find the balance. I want to live so that there is no question about where I stand with regards to sin. I want to live and speak so that anyone who is around me sees and hears Christ in me. I don't want to be angry and bitter about being a Christian. I don't want to tell everyone what I "have" to do or what I "can't" do. I don't want to keep a check list of things that make me "good". I just want to follow Christ and let Him work in me and thru me. I want Him to fill me up so that HE spills over into my conversations. I want Him to fill me up so that HE spills over onto the people in my life.

That seems pretty simple.


Father God,
I mess things up so quickly. I want to do the right things and say the right things, but I find myself being prideful. Help me to surrender to you more every day. I want you to work in me and thru me Lord. I know that I get in the way of that. Fill me up Lord so that the people you put in my life see you in me and hear you in me. I want the people who know me to know you. I know that you can make that happen.
Amen