Do you think people are basically good? I tend to think that way. Maybe we hope that people, including ourselves are basically good. Most of us think that kindness is a good thing. We know that sharing is right, even if we are sometimes fear of the high cost of sharing. I live in a city where there are several million cars on the commute every day. Somehow, most of us get home. We follow the rules. Of course, that could be mutual self-interest, but I still find it amazing cooperation and a faithful commitment to some form of social contract.
I think we, the people, are also deeply and fundamentally flawed. I am interested in the definition of goodness. What does it really mean to be good? Do you remember this comment from Jesus?
Mark 10:18 (NRSV) Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”
Our only chance of considering ourselves as good is when we are the standard of goodness. For people, when we are not fearful, when we compare ourselves to other people, might be good. It is like saying, “For a cannibal, he is a fine young cannibal.”
When we see ourselves in light of God’s expectations for us, we don’t measure up so well. Love your enemies? Turn the other cheek? Give to everyone who asks? Forgive seventy times seven times? Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matt 5:48). There is a high standard for you!
And here is an interesting Bible fact. There is one psalm that is a duplicate. Look at Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Psalms is a collection of songs and here the collections overlapped. They could not decide which one to leave out, so they kept them both!
Psalms 14:2-3 (NRSV) 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
Psalms 53:2-3 (NRSV) 2 God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
I think we will need this prayer, every day. Not my will, Father, but yours be done. We can lean toward perfection. That is probably as ‘good’ as it gets.
I think we, the people, are also deeply and fundamentally flawed. I am interested in the definition of goodness. What does it really mean to be good? Do you remember this comment from Jesus?
Mark 10:18 (NRSV) Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”
Our only chance of considering ourselves as good is when we are the standard of goodness. For people, when we are not fearful, when we compare ourselves to other people, might be good. It is like saying, “For a cannibal, he is a fine young cannibal.”
When we see ourselves in light of God’s expectations for us, we don’t measure up so well. Love your enemies? Turn the other cheek? Give to everyone who asks? Forgive seventy times seven times? Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matt 5:48). There is a high standard for you!
And here is an interesting Bible fact. There is one psalm that is a duplicate. Look at Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Psalms is a collection of songs and here the collections overlapped. They could not decide which one to leave out, so they kept them both!
Psalms 14:2-3 (NRSV) 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
Psalms 53:2-3 (NRSV) 2 God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
I think we will need this prayer, every day. Not my will, Father, but yours be done. We can lean toward perfection. That is probably as ‘good’ as it gets.
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