Good x Bad = Bad

1 Chronicles 5:18-6:81; Psalm 6; Proverbs 18:20-21

 

We’re mixed bags, for the most part. We do good things. And we do bad things. So what does that mean, practically speaking?

 

Well, in terms of our relationship with God, here’s what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that God thinks we’re great. It doesn’t even mean God thinks we’re okay some of the time.

 

God knew about the people of Manasseh, for instance. On the one hand, He knew that They were brave warriors, famous men, and heads of their families (1 Chron. 5:24). But there was also this: [T]hey were unfaithful to the God of their fathers and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them (1 Chron. 5:25). So does God pat them on the back for their good points?

 

No.

 

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria), who took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. – 1 Chron. 5:26

 

As far as God is concerned, it doesn’t matter how great we look if we’re also bad. Good times bad equals bad. He sees bad. He responds to bad. He punishes bad. This is not to forget that God is the one who re-creates what is bad and makes it good again. But we ought to remember that God is not interested in a mixed bag of righteousness and wickedness. In our lives, He is looking for righteousness. Which is why we must cast our lives completely into the hands of Christ. Only He can make us righteous before God. In our own strength, we will always be mixed bags.

 

Father, please help me to remember to evaluate my life honestly. Rather than trying to justify my life based on the things I do well, may I remember that in my own strength I am inadequate in my attempts to be good. In my own strength, I am a mixed bag of good and evil, and the evil corrupts the good so that I deserve Your judgment. With this honest evaluation in mind, may I then call on You, recognizing how much I need You to save me. May I remain faithful to You, because You are my only hope.