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God Alone Is Good! 6/19/2008 7:57:45 AM
“Why do you call Me good?
No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matt. 19:17).
God is good…all the time!
How quickly and often we make that declaration, but do we really think about what we’re saying?
Jesus Himself, in response to being referred to as “good,” challenged His followers with the question, “Why do you call Me good?” The Savior posed this question in an obvious attempt to cause His listeners to recognize that He was God as well as Man, for His question was followed by the statement that no one but God is good.
And that’s where the problem comes in. Most of us—at least those who are truly born-again believers—have little trouble acknowledging that God is good…all the time, even when situations and circumstances in a broken, sin-filled world are not. But do we really believe that no one other than God is good? Have we ever made the erroneous statement that someone is a “good person”? That statement is true only if that person is born again and has the Spirit of God (who alone is good!) living within.
The apostle Paul confirmed this when he said in Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” Paul understood that it was ONLY the Spirit of a good God within him that made him good. He could not perform or earn a state of goodness by his deeds; therefore, it would be wrong to refer to Paul (or anyone other than God Himself) as good.
That doesn’t mean that some people aren’t “nice.” Of course, they are, and we all prefer to be around nice people rather than not-so-nice ones. But let’s don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the words “nice” and “good” are interchangeable. Human beings can choose to be nice—or not. But “good” applies only to God, for He alone is good…all the time.
My we walk in that great truth today and always, trusting that His Spirit within us will draw those lost in sin to the only goodness that exists in an evil world.
