What is Good?

What is Good? This question came to my mind Sunday after the sermon. The pastor spoke about the two extremes of legalism and liberalism, our tendency to be to restrictive based on the law of God or to be too free based on the grace we receive from God.

Why do we need rules or ethics or morals? Who chooses? I keep coming back to the question: What is good? Not what taste good or what feels good but what is good? I think this is how we get trapped in sin, how we become distracted by the world.

We confuse good feelings with good being.

In the end, my answer is this: God is Good. This is why we have the scriptures, Jesus, grace, and the Holy Spirit. God has revealed himself, his goodness and offered us guides in this life to help us find truth.

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” - Matthew 19:16-17 (emphasis mine)

I think about the allegory of “The Cave” by Plato (1, 2, 3). In this story people live in darkness and only know of the shadows of real things. We, humanity, are like that. For the longest time I wanted to say that those of us who know the truth have climbed out of the cave. This is untrue.

 

The good news is that Jesus Christ came from the light of eternity, entered our darkness, limited himself, chaining himself down, living among us. He tried to teach those in the darkness the truth about their shadows and how they could have real and abundant life. For this they mocked and killed him; yet he was not held down or bound by the darkness of that place, of those people.

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1: 4-5, 14

Christ and his followers of The Way (Acts 9:2) have ever since been leading people from the darkness of this world into the light of the Kingdom of God. See, it was never us who climbed out of the cave of our own darkness when we were trapped; it was Jesus who pulled us out of that darkness, dimness, and our own weakness and into his good light, clarity, and strength.

Why then as Christians do we so easily desire to jump back into that darkness once again? What is it about our flesh, earthly desires, and that darkness that we find so tempting? Why do sin and evil so easily return to and entangle us? It is when we lack trust, when we desire temporal fulfillment over the long-term and eternal fulfillment that Jesus Christ has given us.

So, what do you chose today? Will you be stuck in that darkness, merely seeing and believing in shadows of life or do want light and abundance? Are you in the light but often find yourself tempted to run back into that darkness, back to that old self again?

What is good? God is Good. God sent his son so that we may have life. We were not meant to live lifeless life’s, meaningless life's, distracted life's, nor temporal ones. When we understand that, I think true, ongoing, and continual transformation is possible.

~ Doubledb

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