YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN

Below this post is Part 1. You should read it first if you have not. This one probably won't make much sense if you don't.

What about Scripture?
What does the Bible say about our goodness? Doesn’t it say we are to be good people? Yet is striving for goodness the real issue?

The bible makes it pretty clear that even in our best attempts it is impossible for us to be 'good.' Psalm 14:1 says, “There is no one who does good.” Jesus rebukes the Rich Young Man for assuming he knows what the word 'good' even means in the first place (Mark 10:18). In addition the Bible even tells us that Christians aren't the only ones who know how to do good things (Luke 11:13).

So seeking 'goodness' is bad? Got it!

Wait, if we are not to focus on goodness then...

Why should I not withhold my goodness from those who deserve it? (Proverbs 3:27)
Why was doing good on the Sabbath a potentially bad thing? (Mark 3:4)
Why do my enemies deserve me doing good to them? (Luke 6:27)
Why should I overcome evil with good? (Romans 12:21)
Why is goodness considered a fruit of the Spirit? (Galatians 5:22)
Why should I not grow weary by doing good? (Galatians 6:9)
Why was I created to do good works? (Ephesians 2:10)
Why should I hold fast to what is good? (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
Why should my goodness be of free will and not compulsion? (Philemon 1:14)
Why should others continually see my good deeds? (1 Peter 2:12)

So seeking 'goodness' is good? Got it!

I don’t get it? Why the de-emphasis and then a glaring emphasis?

And then I read this verse and it sort of summed it all up for me.

John 3:20-21
20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." (emphasis added by me)

Do you see it?

Think about it, people who do wicked things avoid the light of Christ. They avoid the light because the light will expose their wicked deeds for what they truly are... wicked. So think about the opposite of that. Think about what a man looks like who tries to do the opposite of “wicked things.” You would think it would be a man that tries to do “good things.” You would think that, you really would, but you’d be mistaken.

The man who tries to live a life opposite of wickedness doesn't seek goodness, he seeks TRUTH! Literally, "he lives a life of practicing truth". He lives by the truth. Truth and Goodness are two completely different words in the Bible. Most of the time you see the word goodness (other than the ones listed above) it is referring to an attribute of God or describing something He gives, blesses, or has made (Gn 1:31; Ps 34:8; Is 52:7; Na 1:7; Jn 10:11; Ps 23:6; Ps 31:19; Zec 9:17).

Here’s where the confusion is I think. Truth is good but not all goodness is necessarily truth. This is why two guys like Gary and Larry (see previous post) can do the same things and they look seemingly similar. Larry does them out of compulsion (maybe to be a better guy or give back to the community or maybe he thinks he needs to do them for Karma). This is why Larry can love his wife and play with his kids and be honored by all for it. He can even be considered a "good Christian" when he is not. Some of the things he does are good and some of those things ring true with ultimate Truth... hence it's a good thing.

Yet for Gary to seek Truth, oh man, that is another ball game. Now Gary’s goodness doesn’t matter to him any longer. Gary is not loving his wife because he needs to, he is loving her because he can’t help but love her. Gary is not staying late at work for selfish reasons (though still entirely possible), he is working hard because he is daily, publishing the gospel that God has written on his brand-new living heart.

Larry may live a good life, but it is a life that shuns the light out of fear of being exposed and shamed by a holy God. Gary lives a good life and humbly (I daresay... boldly) comes to the light so that it may be seen that what he has done has been done through God (John 3:21). Gary is not perfect, far from it, but he is faithful.

Gary is no longer afraid of the light, he has no reason to be. While Larry lives a good life rejecting the light... Gary lives a life of truth delighting in it.

So you see “Does being a Christian make you a better person?” YES and NO.

Like my friend Taylor said, “Being Christian means loving Jesus and abiding in Him, who is God, who is all things good.”

It seems logical that abiding in Him would result in some of that "goodness" spilling over into you and out of you.

“Niceness... is an excellent thing. ...But we must not suppose that even if we succeed in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world - and might even be more difficult to save.”(1)


1 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1980).