The Greater Good

How can “good deeds” be important to have eternal life?

A man came to Jesus and said, “Most excellent Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Why do you call me most excellent?” Jesus said. “No one is most excellent except God.” — Matthew 19:16–17

We use the word good so easily. A good day. A good meal. A good opportunity. A good decision. A good life. But what do we really mean by good?

Usually, we mean something that feels pleasant, works in our favor, satisfies a desire, or produces the result we hoped for. Yet what looks good to us today may look very different ten years from now. Something painful may eventually prove beneficial, while something pleasurable may quietly lead us in the wrong direction.

That is why our definition of “good” can’t safely rest upon appearances.

The Whole Picture

God sees what we can’t see. He understands every consequence, possibility, and hidden motive. From outside the realm of time, he knows from the beginning how everything will end. He sees every future development and every eternal outcome. From his perspective, good isn’t merely what feels great right now.

At the end of each stage of creation in Genesis, God looked at what he had made and declared it good. Then, after the creation of humanity, Scripture says God inspected what he had accomplished and saw it was very good. That distinction is significant.

Good is what ultimately fulfills his perfect purpose.

Each preceding stage was good because it contributed to what God intended to accomplish. Light, land, vegetation, sun, moon, animals, and everything else prepared the way for humanity. When the work reached its intended fulfillment, God called the whole creation very good.

Imagine watching a carpenter build a house. A pile of lumber lying in the yard may not look impressive. Neither does wet concrete, an unfinished wall, or exposed wiring. Yet every stage can be good if it contributes to the finished structure in the best possible way.

We frequently judge one unfinished stage of life as though it were the completed project. God does not.

Even before the creation of Earth and people who sinned, God loved us and had the perfect plan in Christ Jesus for us to become like him, wholly without fault in his eyes. — Ephesians 1:4

God’s plan wasn’t invented after humanity sinned. From the beginning, his purpose centered upon bringing people into relationship with himself through Christ. That means the goodness of God must be understood within the enormous framework of eternity, not merely within the narrow boundaries of what happens to us today.

What Looks Good

We naturally evaluate life according to immediate results. Pleasure feels good. Comfort feels good. Success feels good. Getting our own way feels good. But none of those things necessarily qualifies as good from God’s perspective.

A child might think eating an entire box of candy is good. A parent sees beyond the immediate pleasure to the problems that follow. A patient may dislike surgery, while the physician sees it as necessary for healing. A student may hate difficult assignments, while the teacher knows the struggle will develop knowledge and learning ability. In the same way, our flesh frequently evaluates good according to immediate satisfaction, while God evaluates good according to eternal transformation.

Appearances can deceive us. What feels right isn’t always right. What seems beneficial isn’t always beneficial. And what seems painful isn’t necessarily harmful.

Beginning the Journey

One danger in modern Christian thinking is treating a profession of faith as though nothing remains except waiting for Heaven. But Jesus consistently described discipleship as a journey in which we’re “saved” when we endure to the end (Matthew 24:13).

The initial decision to follow Christ matters enormously, but that decision begins a lifelong process of transformation. Think about marriage. Saying “I do” is tremendously important, but nobody would argue that those two words represent the entirety of married life. They are an important beginning. Everything that follows reveals what that commitment truly means.

Our relationship with Christ works similarly. We first make a commitment. Then, day-after-day, we learn what surrender means. From glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), God wants to change our values, desires, and reactions. Over time, we develop different priorities, attitudes, and relationships.

Salvation isn’t merely about escaping judgment someday. It’s about becoming increasingly like Christ now.

The Narrow Road

We all have a choice to make. If it were God’s choice, everybody would follow Christ, but he doesn’t control our choices, even though he knows what they will be. Jesus said he was the narrow way of truth and life, but most people would prefer the broad road to destruction (Matthew 7:15; John 14:6).

Why does the narrow road appeal to so many people? Because surrender is difficult. Human nature prefers independence. We naturally want to decide what is good for ourselves. That temptation reaches all the way back to Eden. Adam and Eve faced essentially the same question we still face: Will I trust God’s definition of good, or will I define good for myself?

Every day presents smaller versions of that ancient choice. Will I forgive or retaliate? Will I serve or demand? Will I wait or force the outcome? Will I obey when obedience costs me something? Will I trust God when I can’t see what he is doing?

Walking the narrow road means repeatedly saying, “God knows better than I do.”

Giving or Getting

Our prayers are often filled with requests for what we perceive would be blessings—gifts, opportunities, wisdom, influence, and resources. There is nothing wrong with receiving good things from God. The danger comes when we imagine that receiving them is the goal.

Jesus said, “Much is required of those who are given much responsibility, and more is required of those who are given more” (Luke 12:48). God’s gifts come with responsibility for their use.

• If he gives us encouragement, we can encourage others.

• If he gives us wisdom, we can share it.

• If he gives us resources, we can become generous.

• If he gives us forgiveness, we can forgive.

• If he gives us truth, we can help others see it.

The goodness of God is never intended merely to stop with us. It should flow through us like a river.

Alignment, Not Persuasion

Many prayers could be summarized this way: “God, here is what I believe would be best. Please make it happen.” We may even collect Bible verses to strengthen our argument. But prayer is meant to accomplish something deeper.

Jesus repeatedly withdrew to pray. Yet his prayers were not attempts to convince the Father to adopt Jesus’ plans. In Gethsemane, he prayed, “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). That sentence captures the power of prayer. As with Jesus, our prayers should want God to reshape our desires. Instead of asking God to bless our agenda, we ask him to replace our agenda with his.

Like a compass always redirects itself to the north, we seek God’s presence to align our hearts with his.

Daily Surrender

Yesterday’s surrender isn’t sufficient for today.

If our fleshly needs control our desires, we walk away from God, toward death. But if we are sensitive to our spiritual needs and follow—as best we know how—what pleases God, we will live forever. — Romans 8:13

That verse reflects an essential reality of Christian life. Yesterday’s surrender doesn’t automatically settle today’s decisions. Every morning brings new desires, new frustrations, new temptations, and new opportunities to choose ourselves. So surrender must become a habit.

We might think of it like steering a car. A driver doesn’t aim his car in the correct direction and then release the steering wheel. Constant adjustments are necessary. The same is true spiritually.

We repeatedly ask:

• Lord, what do you want?

• What am I missing?

• What needs to change in me?

• What are you trying to teach me?

Often, God wants to teach us something we don’t yet realize we need to learn.

God’s Timing

Sometime, patience is treated as little more than the ability to tolerate delay. Biblically, patience goes much deeper, saying, “I trust God enough not to force the outcome.” Abraham struggled with this. God promised him a son, but the fulfillment seemed impossibly slow. Abraham and Sarah eventually tried to help God accomplish what he had promised. The result was Ishmael and generations of complications.

Waiting upon God can be an act of profound faith. Patience becomes a virtue because it values God’s wisdom above our urgency. Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is refuse to run ahead.

Where Faith Begins

David frequently asked God questions. Why are my enemies prospering? Why does injustice continue? Why do you seem distant? Why does trouble keep coming? The Psalms contain remarkably honest expressions of his confusion. Yet he repeatedly returned to trusting God, regardless. That’s what faith requires.

Faith believes when physical evidence is lacking. — Hebrews 11:1

If we could see God’s purpose behind everything that’s happening, we wouldn’t need faith. Imagine assembling a thousand-piece puzzle while seeing only three pieces. From our perspective, nothing seems to make sense. God sees the picture on the box.

Faith says, “I can’t see enough to understand this, but God can.” That doesn’t eliminate questions. It gives us a secure place to stand while we ask them.

Shining Light

Jesus said we’re like a hillside city where everybody in the dark valleys can see the light.

You should let your kindness shine before men so they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven. — Matthew 5:16 •

We can’t control how people respond to light. Some are attracted to it. Others resist it, preferring darkness because they don’t want their deeds exposed. Our responsibility isn’t to control the response. Our responsibility is to shine.

When God’s love becomes visible through us, we become catalysts. Someone watching may begin wondering whether God is real. Someone hurting may discover hope. Someone trapped in bitterness may discover forgiveness. Someone wandering may discover the narrow road.

Spiritual Power

Apart from God’s presence, Christianity is little more than a religious form.

The prideful will betray their friends and react without thinking. They have a religious form with only a façade of righteousness, not the Holy Spirit acting with power in their lives. — 2 Timothy 3:4–5

Spiritual power doesn’t come from appearances, religious vocabulary, or liturgies. It comes from God working within. That doesn’t mean we’re physically incapable of doing anything on our own. People accomplish impressive things every day without acknowledging God. Jesus was talking about eternal fruit. The kind of work that fulfills God’s purpose requires God’s power.

We are not the electricity. We are the wire. Our effectiveness depends upon remaining connected to the source.

Understanding Goodness

We often encounter circumstances that don’t look good. A prayer goes unanswered. A relationship fails. A dream disappears. Illness arrives. Someone we love dies. An opportunity vanishes. At such moments, the statement “God is good” becomes more than theology. It becomes a faith choice.

All those who love God and are working to fulfill his purpose should know that all things will work together for good. — Romans 8:28

The apostle Paul is acknowledging the reality that what we see isn’t the whole picture. What appears to be bad has a good, essential purpose, which might include our faults and failures that teach a life-changing lesson. If we remain relentless in our walk with God, we can be sure that everything will be all right.

The Difficult Truth

One of the most important spiritual truths can be expressed in a single sentence: God knows what he is doing, and we do not. That truth wounds pride but strengthens faith.

• We don’t know what tomorrow holds.

• We don’t understand every consequence of our choices.

• We don’t see every person affected by our lives.

• We don’t know every lesson we need to learn.

God does.

The Lord says, “I don’t think the way you think, and my methods are different from yours. As the stars are so distant from Earth, so are my thoughts and methods far above yours.” — Isaiah 55:8–9

Instead of asking God to make our plans succeed, we can ask him to make his plans succeed through us. Instead of demanding what looks good, we can seek what is good. Instead of saying, “Lord, give me what I want,” we can increasingly pray: “Lord, help me want what you want.”

What God Wants

The goal of spiritual maturity isn’t merely becoming better at denying ourselves. Something deeper should happen. Our desires can actually change.

Delight in the Lord, for he can give you the desires of your heart when you want what he wants. — Psalm 37:4

That verse is sometimes interpreted as though delighting in God guarantees everything we already desire. But no, something far better can happen. As we delight in God, he changes what we desire so we begin to want whatever he wants. Then, surrender feels less like losing something and increasingly like discovering something better.

The Best Good

God didn’t create us merely so we could build comfortable lives, collect blessings, avoid trouble, and eventually go to Heaven.

• He wants his love to flow through us.

• He wants his character to develop within us.

• He wants our lives to reflect his goodness and glory.

When circumstances confuse us, desires pull us, or waiting frustrates us, we can return to one foundational conviction: God sees what we can’t see. He understands what we can’t understand. He knows what we don’t know.

If we remain surrendered to him, what he calls good will ultimately prove infinitely better than anything we could have chosen for ourselves.

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