Are you a good person? I’m an optimist most of the time. I tend to see people as good unless they prove me wrong. There are people who are the opposite. They are suspicious or cynical about people and expect the worst unless proven otherwise. And even then they aren’t sure.
In fact, none of us are truly good. We struggle with emotions, desires, actions that are not good. The apostle Paul’s starting point in his discussions of people is that we are not good to begin with.
So how do we get on the path toward being a good person?
I just finished John Ortberg’s latest book, Who Is This Man?. He said, “Because of Jesus’ emphasis on the heart, goodness does not begin with right behavior. It begins with openness to the truth about the mess in my inner being.”
This is not really a new thought. Ancient wisdom taught that first we must know ourselves. Or as the Scottish poet Robert Burns put it, “O, wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as others see us!”
To do that requires hard work on our part. We must sit in contemplation and step away from ourselves in our mind and observe ourselves. This also works if you are out somewhere, say in a queue at a market or airport ticket counter. You sort of project your mind out and observe yourself dispassionately as you act. I’ll tell you, that exercise has prevented me from foolishness on occasion.
The cool thing about the church calendar is that it prompts us to remember certain things with regularity. We are in Advent. Remembering the coming of Jesus. This is a good time for us to look within and see where we are harboring guilt, anger, greed, self-centeredness, and the like.
By being open to this, we can then prepare our hearts for Jesus to enter our lives to help us put those behind us and begin to approach living a good life with him.
Faith Venture 
Leave a comment