From the time I was born I have been taught about being good and being bad. O.k. So maybe I don’t quite remember that far back, but I do remember back to around 5 years old or so. I can remember getting in trouble and getting spanked for doing something wrong. I knew there was a difference between being good and being bad. But, I think, like most of us, I didn’t really grasp the full concept.
Most of us know what it means to be bad. We know what is wrong. Well, at least we used to. It seems some of those lines are being blurred a bit these days and we are straying away from the Biblical truths of what is wrong under the false concept of tolerance… but that is a topic for another post. What we seem to have really forgotten is what it means to be good.
I don’t lie. I don’t cheat. I don’t use bad language. I live a “good” life. The term “good” has come to mean the absence of “bad”. We don’t actually do “good”, but we aren’t “bad”. We have become what John wrote about in Revelation 3:15-16. We have become “lukewarm” Christians. We are neither “hot nor cold”. We are neither good nor bad. I was watching a Studio C with my daughter yesterday that explains it much better than I ever could. (If you haven’t watched any Studio C, you are missing out on some very funny stuff.) Studio C – The Devil’s Dilemma.
This got me to thinking. I am not too far from this. I can reason out that I’m a good guy and I occasionally do good things. But mostly I am a good guy because I am not bad. Being “good” is much more than the absence of bad. It is actually doing something good.
If anyone, then, knows the good
they ought to do and doesn’t do it,
it is sin for them.
James 4:17
Being good is an active term. It is doing something. Being good is much more than not being bad. It is much more than just believing in God.
You believe that there is one God.
Good! Even the demons believe that
and shudder.
James 2:19
Being good takes action. Believing in God, our faith, is an active term. We are called to action. We are not called to not do bad. From a Biblical perspective, there are many verses that talk about this. But just from a practical standpoint; not being bad doesn’t really accomplish anything good. I can sit at home and watch church on TV and listen to worship music all day, not use bad language and not do anything bad, but what am I accomplishing? What good have I done?
So, as I head out on these next Six and a Half Days, my “do over” is to get off the fence and do good.
I hope this post (and perhaps the Studio C skit) has started you thinking about doing good. Comment below and share your thoughts on being good.
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Thanks for reading.
Curtis
It’s kind of like the difference between light and dark or hot and cold. Darkness is the absence of light. Cold is the absence of heat. In the same way, when there is an absence of good, there is evil. So it’s not enough just to avoid doing evil… if I fail to do good… actively seek to do good… that is in itself evil. Not always an easy concept to get.
Great post! Now to get busy with doing! This stretches me as I am busy here with Momma. But I know there are some young Moms that I need to “love on” even if just by phone to encourage and shepherd. Now to discipline myself to make minutes for that! Thanks for making time to share. 👍🏼❤️🙏
I know the work you have done in the past and the work you are doing now. You are doing a good work serving your mom. Serving our parents when they are not able to serve themselves is a great work. There will be a day when you can get some rest, be filled up again and go love on those moms and encourage them like you are good at. I hear people say “we can all do more”, and in many cases that is true. But we also all have limits. God has called you to serve your mother right now.