A Really Good Guy?

A really good guy?

There are two ways to be ‘good.’ There is an external conformity to imposed expectations. This type of “goodness” is long on guilt and punishment that forces compliance.  Then, there is virtue, an inner desire to live a life that is marked by excellence and praiseworthy actions. The Word  says that the Lord has empowered us by the Spirit and has "called us to glory and virtue. " (2 Peter 1:3, KJV)  This commitment to a life that is noble does not just happen. It demands both an inner change and effort on our part,  "giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge." (2 Peter 1:5, KJV) We should not limit our ideals about virtue to sexuality.  Virtue includes a commitment to being loving, generous, kind, and unselfish.

Virtue finds little appreciation among us. “Bad boys” are the stars in our stories. To be seen as virtuous is a kiss of death in a culture of coarse, vulgar idols.  This means that Christians, who are obedient to God’s call to live virtuously, will have to make a choice between pleasing God and finding admiration of their peers. Living virtuously has become synonymous with living timidly, with shrinking from conflict. Perhaps that misconception grows out the fact that there is no virtue without humility. Humility, the honest estimate of who we are and our capabilities, will inevitably leads us to recognize the importance of God’s work in us. It will also make us know the necessity of building strong, respectful ties to a circle of people who nurture us.  Christ came to restore us, not to our Self, but to our Father. His gift of grace releases us from the death grip of shame which is toxic to spiritual health. One cannot live in shame and experience the beauty that God offers to His children.

Virtue has a real enemy in American individualism, our love of the Self.  Too many of us confuse confidence, which is part of virtue, with bravado. Thus, we swagger, adopting a cocky pose, pretending we are above it all.  This pushing, posturing, and posing leads us to replace authentic goodness with an image that we carefully create and tend.  Over time we lose the ability to see the difference between merely looking  good and actually being a person of virtue.  An authentically virtuous life stands out!  The Lord calls on us to “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.” What is the result? “You shine like stars in the universe.” (Phil. 2:15)

When we are good, from the inside out, we will please God and give ourselves to what actually matters.  The word from the Word for today calls us to virtue. How will you answer? "Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever." (1 John 2:15-17, NLT)