On Being Good

Ungodliness is not always about the really bad people. Sometimes it is about the really good people who are more restrictive than God...
If we're not careful, we too will equate being good with loving Jesus.
--Joseph M. Stowell

My life's journey has mostly been about being good. Not too long ago, my way of looking at people was something like this:
Good Behavior & Habits = Godly
Bad Behavior & Habits = Ungodly

And while it was my working definition for those I met and lived alongside, this is in fact how I defined myself.

And then I went to college and God threw me in the path of people who were good, but who weren't very loving or accepting. But I also met people that, while weren't so good, they seemed to have a clearer view of God, his grace, and his love for people.

That's when I began to discover that being good isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially if it set me up to judge others and to elevate myself as better than them. Nor was it helpful when I would fail my own impossible standards, and feel the same judgment come crashing down on me.

I certainly haven't arrived at the end of my journey; I still struggle with judging others (and myself) for not being good enough. But I'm also joyfully discovering that my lack of goodness is what drives me towards God. And that moves me to love him even more.