Good People

January 11, 2018

Jeff Smith

If good people want to stay good, we better know some things.

Most of us like to think of ourselves as “good” people. As a Christian, I accept God’s offer to forgive my sins and His help to be “good.” Others feel they can be good by themselves. Both goals are noble.

The Apostle Peter wrote that we should also add to our “goodness,” “knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5 KJV), because staying good requires some smarts.

This comes to mind as I read my Bible wisdom verse this morning:

“With his mouth the evil man sends destruction on his neighbor; but through knowledge the upright (blameless or innocent-Hebrew) are taken out of trouble” Proverbs 11:9 (BBE).

Per this verse, there are some out there who feel it is okay is to find someone close at hand, who means them no harm, and destroy them. These may be few but the number isn’t zero.

Judas, the disciple of Jesus who betrayed Him, helps to explain.

After walking with Jesus for three years or so, Judas went to His enemies and sold Him out. Then after dark, he led the way, spoke to Jesus and kissed Him so He could be grabbed and taken away.

Betrayed, Jesus forgave those who ordered his death. He knew that in their pain they did not know what they were doing (Luke 23:34).

But Judas did. That hurt the worst.

This tells me:

Good people don’t do this.

I shouldn’t do this.

People can turn on us. It happens.

Sometime it happens to people who work hard at being good.

Knowing the depth of this wound, and this wrong, helps to climb out of it.

Finding people out there still worthy of trust, is the way we climb out. After all, Jesus still had eleven other disciples.

Knowing I have friends who would never think to do this kind of thing in the first place tells me how lucky I am.

Good to know.

Published in Pagosa Sun March 15, 2018,

http://www.pagosasun.com/good-people-staying-good/