“I’m not bad. I just do bad things!”

Awhile back, when my nephew was about 5 or 6, his older sister caught him doing

something that he should not have been doing. Observing his wrongdoings, his sister said the following: “You’re bad!”

Without hesitation (and with a little heat), my nephew turned and responded with “I’m not bad. I just do bad things!”

He, of course, was right. He’s not bad. He just does bad things. This bit of wisdom from the mouth of a child stuck with me. It’s something that as adults we should know, but often forget. Too often, especially in this 24 hour news-internet driven-Facebook posting- Twitter obsessed-sound bite focused-rumor ripe generation, we forget the simple fact that we can’t encapsulate all that a person is into one act…or even a few. I have been guilty of this and have to fight the inclination from time to time. It’s part of the ongoing process of becoming a better person. Because, you see, I sometimes do bad things as well.

But I have a question for you. If doing one bad thing doesn’t make you a bad person, does doing one good thing make you a good person? How many good deeds make a “good person”? Shouldn’t we always seek the good?

As you ponder this, remember that:

“We all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”

ROMANS 3:23

RcM