Is Being Good, Good Enough?

Is Being Good, Good Enough?

“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:21‬

I always thought I could go through life and be the determiner of my fate. Not faith. Fate. 

I figured if I was just a good person to people, I would be alright. I never argued that God was or wasn’t real. I loved science and biology in school, but believed God created everything. I had a hard time believing a frog came from a piece of wood. 

For the most part, I was a good person. And that’s where I was kidding myself. I went through life doing what I wanted and I put the measurement on what was good. I determined what it was that needed to be done for my goodness. I treated whoever I wanted, however I wanted, whether it was kindness or not. 

I was the thermometer, the barometer and the altimeter. And boy was I ever so wrong. 

In the parable above, the rich young man told Jesus he had obeyed every law and asked Jesus what he could do to have eternal life. The rich young man believed he was good enough. 

It’s interesting that some people won’t believe in God or believe in putting their faith and trust in Jesus Christ - because they believe it to be nonsense.  And then they say the reason is because they don’t want to do “all that stuff”. They are pointing to religion. They don’t understand relationship. 

And then they’ll add that they just believe they will be a good person. And that’s all they need to do to be “okay”. 

So let me get this right, you’ll live life believing in being a good person, but not in Jesus Christ?

Almost every single person that I’ve met that believes they will just be a good person until they die - has been in a relationship or is in a relationship with someone else. Some are married, some are dating and some are eternally living with someone. Some even have kids (we will get to that shortly). 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pointing the finger, I was here for over 50 years!

If you go on believing in this world, with your two feet on the ground, that just being good is good enough, you will die and you will go to hell. Don’t get mad at me. I now believe. 

Jesus loved the young rich man, just as He loves everyone. But He knew what the young man lacked and pointed it out to him. The young man didn’t have to do anything. He didn’t have to follow the law, he didn’t have to give the most money and he didn’t even just have to be good. 

Jesus knew the young man and knew that he wouldn’t be able to part with his money or his possessions. It was pride. 

When we believe in ourselves we are only fooling ourselves. Believing that we can be the determiner is pride. 

We will never be good and this makes us perfectly good enough for Heaven, as long as we put our faith and trust in God. 

Think about this. 

You’re driving with your family on the interstate and you get involved in a horrible accident. 

You’re ejected from the vehicle and you’re not injured.

You look over and your car is turned upside down with your family inside. 

Would you go back to help your family?  Would you want them to come back for you?

If you ran back to help them, why wouldn’t you help yourself now?

Most people have zero excuses for believing in Jesus Christ. It cost absolutely nothing for you to set aside your will and desires and live for Him. You’ll live for everyone else, yourself and make excuses not to let Jesus lead your life. 

And that’s the beauty of it - you have the freedom to choose. God created you like that. And it is a choice. No one will force you. Look how beautifully Jesus explained it to the young man. 

Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation, which is life after death - forever. 

Your family, you and your children (if you have them) can have eternal salvation. It doesn’t cost anything and it is solely dependent on a relationship with God, through His grace, by your faith. 

“And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:23-25‬

“And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:27