Incentives For Behavioral Growth

I had a conversation online with a friend a couple of nights ago after he gave an online Bible study. He's a very good teacher and I was commenting on a couple of point he's brought out in his study in 1st John 4. A portion of that conversation was as follows, and I am the chatter named seekHm1st.

seekHm1st> There are three things I appreciated tonight

seekHm1st> One, God's love and its immensity

seekHm1st> two, so very important-- how we show through our very lives, that love we have been shown.

seekHm1st> (John 4:19 is a favorite verse of mine)

Shield> cool

seekHm1st> because love in action is an outgrowth of our true love for God in Christ

seekHm1st> that is so vital, so important

seekHm1st> and it struck me.......

seekHm1st> when you were talking about fear

seekHm1st> the "reason" we should be saved.

seekHm1st> not because we "fear" damnation

seekHm1st> but because God is so good to save us.

seekHm1st> In addition to what you said about the fears of the problems of this life

seekHm1st> His goodness,

seekHm1st> that we are bad people saved by a good God,

seekHm1st> and this life being so temporary

seekHm1st> how important it is to share His goodness,

seekHm1st> especially with those who don't know Him

seekHm1st> lol

seekHm1st> I'm rambling.

seekHm1st> But I was touched.

seekHm1st> It was all of it, very applicable.

Shield> I appreciate your thoughts

Shield> it is very encouraging

Shield> I would amend one thing you said though, gently of course

seekHm1st> k

Shield> I would not say we are bad people

seekHm1st> lol

Shield> I would say we are image bearers of God who have made a fatally bad choice

Shield> thus needing God's mercy and grace

seekHm1st> I think that's a better way of putting it

Shield> nor would I say we are good

Shield> only God is good

seekHm1st> very true

Shield> that is a quote from Jesus as you know

seekHm1st> lol

seekHm1st> Yeah

seekHm1st> Image bearers. I like that.

Shield> yup

Shield> we forget it too often

I can speak from personal experience that the fact that we are indeed "image bearers" of God has slipped from my mind more than once. I touched on that notion on my last blog post. I wrote: "We were created in the image of God. Our image suffered serious distortion in the fall of mankind in the Garden, because now, everyone who is created in God's image is now a sinner. God is perfect and we are a funhouse-mirrored version of what we are supposed to be like as reflections of Him."

In Matthew 19: 16-17, Jesus responds to a man with a very serious question; "16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" 17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

My friend is very correct though, and there is none good but God. I have a friend who believes that good people go to heaven, and the bad people go to hell. She also thinks that there are by far, many more good people than bad people. I know that semantics get involved here, but her theology is very flawed. Firstly, her definition of a good person is someone who is even-tempered, honest and helpful to others. While certainly that may be the easiest type of personality to be around, it has nothing to do with whether one is saved or not.

When one takes the Ten Commandments for example, and sets them before one's face, and one takes a good long look at them, one begins to see that one is not good. God's purity and righteousness, His goodness, faithfulness and justness are so infinite, that by comparison our sins against Him are infinitely heinous. Only God is good, as Jesus said, and as His image bearers, we should stop to take a look at them a little more often than we probably do.