Whether you are looking for a new doctor, a new mechanic or a new restaurant, there is one question that will undoubtedly be at the top of your list: “Are they good?” Once you find several candidates your consultants convince you meet your basic criteria, then you begin the sifting process: “Who’s the best?”
Some people may be glad that grocery stores have begun to package their produce. It does make things go more quickly when you can just pick up a bag of potatoes or onions or cherries. On the other hand, when you find yourself in front of bin full of fresh peaches or apples or green beans, do you take the first few that are closest to you or do you carefully pick and choose until you have the few you believe are the best ones there?
The level of performance of professional athletes is truly remarkable—almost superhuman. Day after day they perform at levels that most people find difficult to imagine. In fact, it would be unreasonable to expect even a reasonably fit person to match a pro athlete on almost any skill that was their specialty. Nevertheless, when the pros compete against one another—even when the difference in their performance may only be able to be measured in millimeters or fractions of a second—it is the one who comes out on top who is proclaimed the best.
Indeed, we have become so obsessed with “the best” that we may be in danger of losing an appreciation for what it means to be good.
One day after Jesus had spent some time answering the questions of his antagonists, a young man ran up to Jesus with a sincere request. To show his appreciation and respect for Jesus and the way that he handled himself with both the powerful and the weak, this young man addressed Jesus as a “good teacher.” So I imagine he was quite surprised when Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? . . . Only God is truly good” (Mark 10:18).
Have you ever considered the proposition that God may be less interested in what you are doing to make yourself better than he is in how you are allowing the light of his love to make you good?
Perhaps you should.
Some people may be glad that grocery stores have begun to package their produce. It does make things go more quickly when you can just pick up a bag of potatoes or onions or cherries. On the other hand, when you find yourself in front of bin full of fresh peaches or apples or green beans, do you take the first few that are closest to you or do you carefully pick and choose until you have the few you believe are the best ones there?
The level of performance of professional athletes is truly remarkable—almost superhuman. Day after day they perform at levels that most people find difficult to imagine. In fact, it would be unreasonable to expect even a reasonably fit person to match a pro athlete on almost any skill that was their specialty. Nevertheless, when the pros compete against one another—even when the difference in their performance may only be able to be measured in millimeters or fractions of a second—it is the one who comes out on top who is proclaimed the best.
Indeed, we have become so obsessed with “the best” that we may be in danger of losing an appreciation for what it means to be good.
One day after Jesus had spent some time answering the questions of his antagonists, a young man ran up to Jesus with a sincere request. To show his appreciation and respect for Jesus and the way that he handled himself with both the powerful and the weak, this young man addressed Jesus as a “good teacher.” So I imagine he was quite surprised when Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? . . . Only God is truly good” (Mark 10:18).
Have you ever considered the proposition that God may be less interested in what you are doing to make yourself better than he is in how you are allowing the light of his love to make you good?
Perhaps you should.
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