One of life’s greatest ironies is that really good people don’t think they are so good. It is the semi-good people who think they are good. They really aren’t nearly as good as they think they are. People who think they are good are blind to the reality of their own foibles and deficient character. Really good people know their weaknesses. They understand that most of the good things they do are tainted by selfishness and a desire to atone for not being what they want to be. Often I find myself being most comfortable with people who make little or no pretense of being good as opposed to being with people who just don’t get it.
Less I sound too harsh let me back off a bit and say that most semi-good people are on their way to being good. They just need to recognize their real limitations. They are on their way to the discovery that only Jesus was good. The rest of us are bench warmers.
Paul got it. In Romans he pours out his despair at his inability to be the man he longed to be. See Chapter 7. I read II Peter 1 where we are promised with exceedingly great and precious promises that we, right now, can participate in the divine nature of God. What does that mean? I know what it doesn’t mean, at least for now. It doesn’t mean I can go about healing the blind, restoring health to broken limbs and enabling heart broken families to once again have a child restored to life. Perhaps that is in the offing for some. For me it would be the ruination of my character as my inflated idea of my importance took me to hell.
There is so much to learn!
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 2, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94575
Rogerbothwell.org