The Cost of Goodness
Why do our efforts towards good, apart from Christ, often destroy us, others or both?
Beauty, life, redemption are costly - & on our own, we are very poor. Dead, in fact. We can only make trades - we can’t actually create anything in our own power.
My discipline (my will to do what is right) is basically only good at…
Guilt. Anxiety. Fear.
The discipline of the Holy Spirit is…
Power. Love. A sound mind.
I want so badly is to do what is right, good, beautiful & excellent. I completely need my life & efforts to matter. It’s how I’m wired.
The problem is, life lived awake, connected & un-numbed is so painful! In order to keep a right mind, I need the steadying of a deep conviction that my pain has purpose.
In my own strength, I can only muster short spurts of productivity in a fruitful direction. I can only kind of want growth. The desire is there, but true, finished fruit that brings life to myself & others in a sustained way can never come from the striving of an unregenerate heart. (That’s what fruit it, results that are living-giving, not life-taking) .
You want to make an impact with your life that doesn’t destroy you or others in the process? You have to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You want that power?
You have to be regenerated. Born again.
This is why we know that Jesus is who he said he was - he’s the ONE who laid out this truth in every human heart, the problem that had no name, waiting at the end of every rope & on the floor of every rock bottom.
He told Nicodemus (a Jewish Pharisee who had an open heart John 3),
“truly I tell you unless someone is born of water & the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of flesh is flesh & whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
By the “water” we are washed clean (our sins forgiven & removed by God through Jesus), pulled from spiritual death & darkness. We are then given the gift of the Holy Spirit which enables us to walk in the light (agreeing with God about reality), carrying out good deeds in power & purity.
He continues later,
“For everyone who does evil hates the light & avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
When we’re striving apart from the Spirit, there is always going to be some kind of collateral damage. And we’re going to try & hide that wreckage from ourselves and/or others because it exposes that the “good” we’re producing in the world is not pure - it has a dark side/a cost that diminishes or negates the life-giving aspect of our deeds.
Conversely, when we’ve been born again & are walking in the light by the power of the Spirit, our works then flow out of the finished work of Jesus - his life that was offered up on our behalf, full of power & perfect goodness.
The regenerated, those who’ve *surrendered* to God and been born again, have access to that power because they have the Spirit - & can then begin to live, work & love in such a way that truly brings life & gives glory to God in an uncorrupted manner.
This isn’t made up - look in your heart. Can you save yourself? Can you fix you? Heal you? Has it worked yet? What has been the cost when you’ve tried?
Your physical or mental health?
Your marriage?
Your children?
Your integrity?
Your connection with others?
If you have the desire to move in a new way, it’s evidence that you were created to do good. But to carry out that good, you have to become a new you - & that only happens through surrender & finding a new life in Christ.
