To be, or not to be… “good?” That is the question. Is being a “good” person enough to get you into Heaven?
We hear people call other people good all the time. Usually because they have done some deed that merits their being called good. But are they right in calling them “good?”
At a conference I attended, the very question of calling someone good came up, and this was the question that was asked: was Robin Hood a good man? Pretty much everyone said “yes,” Robin Hood was a good guy. The reasons were all the same: he stole back what the rich had taken from the poor. He was held in high esteem by those who received their ill-gotten goods from him. but does this make him a ‘good’ person?
It is the same in today’s world, you hear of people giving money to this charity or that organization to help provide some basic necessities for others to survive, and we hear them being called “good” all the time. The reason this is an incorrect moniker is because what they are doing by calling them good is misplacing all the glory that rightly belongs to God for He is the giver of all things. We are the steward’s entrusted with the gifts He has given.
When we lived in Florida, I had the privilege of meeting a man whom I truly believed to be homeless. He was working diligently in the garden at the church. His cloths were tattered and dirty. When I asked the priest if the “homeless” guy was working for food, he replied “what homeless guy?” I pointed him out and he laughed at me. He said, “You don’t know who he is do you?” It was obvious I did not. He told me his name and said, “that man, he has more money than the Rockefellers.” Mind blowing moment for me.
Over the course of time, I got to know this man, and one day he told the reason he does what he does.
At a young age, he had made some very good business investments and promised God that if he continued to bless him in his endeavors, he would always do right by it. He knew God had blessed him and he needed to be responsible with what the Lord had provided. He also knew, that if he did not honor God through this gift, He could easily take it away. It was his love for God, and for His glory, not his own, that motivated him to help, not only monetarily, but by the sweat of his own brow as well.
“A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but the love of God which prompts him to do such things,” stated St. John of the Cross.
Let’s go to the Holy Scriptures and see what Jesus has to say. In Mark’s Gospel, a rich, young man comes up to Jesus and asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” At first, his question is answered with a question “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. In this statement, Jesus is revealing himself as the One. He goes on… you know the Commandments, listing them one by one.
The young man replies that he has followed them since his youth. Then Jesus delivers the line that will immediately change the young man’s heart. He says, “You lack one thing; go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Needless to say, the young man went away sorrowful; for he had many possessions.
What does it prophet a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul? (Mark 8:36)
The young man had attached himself to the things of this world (his many possessions) and to him they were more important than acknowledging and honoring God through them.
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more, the other is to desire less,” writes G.K. Chesterton.
What a missed opportunity! He had, for a split second, treasure in heaven, and he lost it in the same amount of time. He turned his back in disbelief and walked away. Jesus turns to His Apostles and says, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
It does not matter how little or how much you have, the question is “Are you willing and able to give it all up if Jesus asks you to?”
St. Francis of Assisi reminds us: “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received, but only what you have given; a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage.”
Live your life worthy of HIS Sacrifice +
God bless you +
Deacon Dez
