Goodness

Psalm 53:3 "They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one."

God is ultimately the only One Who can be good. In our own strength and with our own willpower, none of us will ever make it.

We were created good and in God's image originally. But at the Fall, we chose to go our own way. We thought it would work out to try and make it on our own. But we were wrong. Adam and Eve quickly found out that trying to live right without God is impossible.

But thankfully, God didn't leave us alone to fend for ourselves. First he set up the system of sacrificing animals to "pay" for sin. But that was only a temporary solution. Jesus had to come and die in our place, basically trading His righteousness for our sin, so we could truly be saved from sin and it's consequences. He paid for all those sins in the past that could never really be paid for through just a sacrifice, and He paid for all the sins of the future, giving each of us the gift of salvation so we could be right with God.

John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

God didn't want to condemn us and tell us what a mess we were. Even though he's holy, righteous, and just, and anything opposite of good is opposite of Him. Instead, He made a way, through sacrificing Himself to do what we could never do.

Titus 3:3-5 "3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,"

This verse is explaining that it's nothing we do that saves us. Because we have no good in ourselves. We can't show the quality of goodness in our lives without Jesus, because we just don't have it. But when we believe on Jesus to saves us, it's like His goodness is transferred to us.

Romans 7:15-25 "15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Sin, Paul's old nature, is causing him to do what he doesn't want to do. His new nature wants to do good. Anyone that has accepted Christ as personal Savior has a new nature. But even though he has these desires to do right, his old nature so often keeps him from doing it, and then causes him to mess up in some way. And when he most wants to do right, that's when it's hardest of all. That's because Satan will hits us with temptation the hardest in those moments when we want so much to live how we know we should. Jesus is the only hope Paul found that would deliver him from this discouraging path. And He's the One each of us needs to look to as well.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 "26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. But God chose to take us, even though we could never deserve it, and be our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He is the one that is good, but because Jesus lives inside us, His goodness can be evidenced in our lives.


JPK