A God of Love

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

I recently read a book where one of the characters is trying to redeem themselves.  Having committed a crime in their youth, they feel compelled to improve. One of the questions the character struggles with is “are you a good person?” and alternately “how can you tell?”.

This has sparked many conversations in our house about what makes a good person. Are you a good person strictly by being a Christian? Living as a Christian?  What does it mean to live as a Christian? Does it mean to give? To care? To believe? To pray? To sacrifice? To worship? Being a Christian means that we recognize sin, so good and sinful can live together – with repentance, faith and grace. 

How can you tell you are a good person is more complicated. We have discussed living without regret. Helping others when you can. Checking yourself for greedy tendencies. Recognizing your shortcomings. Maybe you are always volunteering to help with something but you are overly critical of others or the process. We wondered about the Monet effect, people who “look” good from the outside but when you get to know them they are unkind, selfish or worse.  

We hear that “God is good” and we know that means he loves us, despite our shortcomings. He loves saints and sinners. He loves those in faith, and those in conflict. He loves those who don’t believe in Him and those who know He is always with us. He loves…. And it’s good. 

Prayer: God of love, help us to do good in your world. Help us to continue to know what good looks like and feels like. Help us to be the people you know we are in our hearts. Amen

Christi Moock