“As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:17-18).
Who is good but God alone? We assume that we are good, but apart from grace, which allows us to stand before our good God, we have the wickedness in us that sin has brought upon us. We call others good, but why? That cheapens the reality of what is truly good. Your words do matter and the truth is not changed by the false witness that the little good in us outweighs all of the evil. Jesus said that God alone is good.
Lord, I know this does not mean the opposite where I think of others as pure evil. We are in the age of good and evil. Both are present. Both are present in me. You alone have come and shown us what is right and good. Help me to be guided by the faith You have given me to seek what is right and good. Lead me by Your grace to not settle for what is good in me, but to move fully through this journey where You will slay what is not good.
Lord Jesus, I need to be saved. I will settle, but You will not. Lead me out of the positions where I settle and think in terms of good enough. You have told us that we must be perfect, even as the Heavenly Father is perfect. Guide me out of the compromise I live between good and evil in order to live for the true life which lives in the goodness of the Father. Help me each step of the way and grant that Your goodness would shine through me. Amen
