A Good Way to Be Bad

Feeling Bad Vibes

There are certain behaviors that people recognize as undesirable, perhaps even downright bad. Telling hurtful lies, stealing possessions, sex-trafficking, committing murder, using illicit drugs – the list goes on. We instinctively understand that there is a blatant wrongness about such things.

It’s important for us to realize, though, that the wrongness or rightness of something isn’t determined by me, or by you, or by any group of people. There is an unchanging standard of right and wrong that we must consult, and that standard is nothing less than God’s own word and character. So even though the goodness or badness of something will often seem intuitive to us (since God designed our intuition, Psalm 139:13), there are other times when our intuition will be mistaken (since our mind and inclinations have been corrupted by sin, Psalm 14:3).

A Good Show with a Bad Heart

When we come to the Bible, we find some things falling into the category of wrongness that may surprise us. We see seemingly “good” ways that are actually bad. In Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus criticizes some spiritual leaders who are performing highly religious activities – giving to the poor, praying, and fasting. Yet if you read carefully, you’ll see that Jesus isn’t criticizing the activities themselves. Jesus is criticizing the ungodly motivations behind the religious activities.

Specifically, Jesus urges them, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…” In other words, Jesus recognizes that these spiritual leaders aren’t interested in God. All they really want is to impress people. For as much as this superficial spirituality may be disagreeable to us, it’s even more offensive in the eyes of God, who knows our hearts (Hebrews 4:13). Either we will honestly be living for God, or all our religious stunts will be nothing more than a hypocritical sham.

Another Good Disguise for Bad

Yet overt hypocrisy isn’t the only “good” path into wrongness. We’re also committing a serious crime when we pursue life and fulfillment by relying on human effort, human aptitude, or human ability. We may rely on our own effort, or we may rely on someone else – a political candidate, a sports team, maybe even a pastor – but whatever it may look like, this reliance on human ability is evil in the eyes of God. And this may not seem particularly intuitive. Why is it wrong to rely on my own effort to gain life and happiness? What’s wrong with calling my own shots, and working hard to be a good person?

Here’s the problem. Having a human-centered or self-reliant life like this is ultimately a rejection of God. It’s a denial of our creaturely need for a Creator. It’s a refusal to admit our spiritual deadness, our inner corruption, and our need for Almighty God to raise us out of our deadness into new life. I may look like a decently moral person, with a successful career and a stable family, but if I have pushed God out of the picture with my self-reliance, then I am guilty of a heinous form of wickedness that deserves the fire of Hell. Why? Because I have committed the greatest evil by rejecting the greatest good – God himself.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 lays out our options with penetrating clarity. “Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

God’s Provision for Our Good

We are ultimately seen as good in God’s eyes, not by impressing a human audience with Christian habits, nor by achieving his love through earnest self-discipline, but through humbling trusting in the Lord. Our Lord took on flesh, and lived among us (John 1:14). He bore the penalty for our gross immorality, for our hypocrisy, and even for our unholy self-righteousness. In exchange, he placed on us his record of innocence and uprightness. We can’t add to the fullness of what God has provided for us. All we can do – really, what we need to do – is receive it by trusting him.

In Christ, we no longer need to fear the lingering consequences of our badness. But when we trust in Christ, our status before God remains unchanging, because Christ himself will not change (Hebrews 13:8). Now doesn’t this sound good?