Conversing the Kingdom: The Selfish Test

What does it mean to be a good person. Where do we draw the line between ourselves (who are obviously good people!!) and others who are not so good. This is always the challenge for a non-christian who believes that as long as we are good enough we will get to heaven, or lead a good life, or gain enough brownie points for a good reincarnation or what ever our motivation for goodness.The truth of the matter is that it is impossible to be good without God. The line is drawn rather high and only one person ever managed to obtain it, Jesus. Even the good we think we do is actually not good at all. I told this to someone the other day and they looked at me a little oddly.The truth is none of us are good not even one and all that good we think we are doing is essentially selfishness without God. It is impossible to be unselfish in our good works without God.

For example let say our good works is generosity - who are we really being generous for. Is it for recognition or acclaim. Are we looking to get noticed in our generosity. Perhaps it's out of a sense of guilt. Or maybe out of a feeling of superiority, or simply to make ourselves feel good. It is impossible to be generous without one of these motives (or similar) in the background. The only way to be truly generous is as a Christian to be generous for God, because of him and through him. We need to realise that our generosity is for him alone and out of the truth of the generosity we have received from him and out of our changed nature empowered by him.

This is the secret to all good works that they be for him, because of him and through him. Still not convinced of our own selfishness. Try this little tell that has been a challenge for me recently. If your in your car on a narrow road and you stop to let a car from the other direction pass, road etiquette dictates that the other driver wave a sign of thanks. What if they don't? Would it bother you? Would you be silently mouthing, ungrateful fellow? That reaction is very telling and helps us to understand better our selfish motivation for stopping in the first place... to receive the drivers gratitude.