1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian GOODNESS | Page 10

Statement number four: PEOPLE WHO TRY TO BE GOOD WITHOUT JESUS, JUST
CAN’T PULL IT OFF.
Every devotional that we have done this week would point us to the truth of this
statement. There is, within each one of us, a desire for goodness and many will try
and be good in their own strength; in their own will power and believing, with the
greatest of intentions, that they can do it alone. I don’t know about you, but I
know that I am one such person. I am fully aware of our own personal
responsibility in following Christ and acknowledge completely that we make our
own choices, and that the people that we are today has been determined by the
choices that we have personally made in the past. But for today I would like for us
to remember full-well that the Christian faith is a supernatural faith, and it is the
supernatural power of God within us that makes goodness through us a reality to
the world around us. It is true that when you try to be good without Jesus, it’s not
long before you realise that you just can’t pull it off. No amount of self-discipline,
positive thinking, or self-will will do it.
I believe, however, that the key can be found in studying some of the relationships
that Jesus had with people where, as a result of a friendship relationship with
Christ, people moved very quickly into the arena of goodness. When I think of
Nicodemus in John 3, a man so far from God and one who evidenced no goodness
at all, as a result of his friendship with Christ, moved very quickly to evidence the
qualities of one who is good. Zacchaeus, in Luke 19, also became afriend of Christ
and he moved from being corrupt in so many areas of his life to one who
evidenced honesty, integrity and goodness. His life was so transformed, not
because he tried harder or became legalistic in his thinking, but simply as a result
of his friendship with Christ. Matthew the tax collector, in our reading above,
would also suggest that this truth is profoundly true.When he, as a despised tax
collector, was called to be a friend of Christ, it was not long before the old life was
left behind; a life full of devious behaviour and alienation from people, but as a
result of his friendship with Christ, he became a man who evidenced incredible
goodness, even to the point of being martyred for his faith.
Could it be that the simple truth of this thing called goodness could be found by
way of a friendship with Jesus? A friendship that is acknowledged every moment
of every day, through good and through bad and through the highs and lows of