The title of this paragraph might shock you: I just said that there is no such thing as a good Christian. But as shocking as it sounds, it’s true, and I can prove that to you. People generally like to be called good perhaps not realizing that there is no such thing as a good human.
When Jesus walked on earth, a young prince called out to him as He was walking the street, “Good master…” Jesus responded, “why do you call Me good? There is none good except God…”
Was Jesus testing this young prince to see if he knew that He was the Son of God? Or was He being sincere because He was in human form? The bible leaves this open to speculation, but there is absolute truth once again in the words of Jesus: there is none good except God, and there is no such thing as a good human, Christian or non-Christian.
When Jesus walked on earth, He set extremely high standards for us: give to all who ask; when we practice charity, we must do it in a most secretive way so as not to attract earthly praise and glorification. But even so, this does not make us good. We are only taking care of self-interest. We are trying to earn the favor of God in the hopes of getting into heaven and gaining heavenly treasures.
That doesn’t make us good. It makes us transactional, just like the rest of humanity. Humans rarely do any act of kindness or “goodness” unless there is something to be gained from it. By our very nature, we are not good, as Jesus said, there is none good except God. However, by aiming for heaven instead of earth, we as Christians are doing the prudent thing. We may say that Christians are wise; but to say that they are good is a nuance. Remember, there is none good except God, and there is no such thing as a “good” Christian.
