what words do you hate?
Have you ever thought about it before? I'm sure you have. From swear words, to the usage of "retard" and "gay"-there's just some words that should not be said, rub us the wrong way or simply are not used properly (like did do you know Nimrod, use today as "dummy", was originally a name from the Bible?).
Well, I have my choice of words I hate too. Do you know what they are?
Good. Nice.
I despise these words.
Why? You may ask.
One) they are soooooooooooo elementary.
Two) they are soooooooooooo taken out of their originally meaning.
But, the biggest reason why I despise these words is because most of all they are used in the "spiritual or religious" scene.
Have you ever heard someone say:
"You'll go to heaven as long as you're a good person."
"If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it all."
"It's all about being nice to one another."
"How are you today?" "Oh, I'm good."
Now I must confess I am guilty of using some of these phrases (especially that last one). But truth is, every time I hear or say these words I just want to barf.
You're probably thinking: "Okay, Samantha...a bit dramatic aren't we?"
And to that I'd respond with: "I work with children on a daily basis and you think I'm dramatic?"
Let's look at what these words mean shall we:
Good=morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious
Nice= pleasing; agreeable; delightful
*taken from dictionary.com
Based on just the very first description of these "elementary words", do you think we use them in their proper context?
Let's tackle that first statement I mentioned-You'll go to heaven as long as you're a good person. Or also phrased as-God just wants you to be a good person.
So if you are a person that says this or something vaguely similar, may I ask you a few questions:
- Are you morally excellent?
- Are you virtuous?
- How about pious? (the positive sort: having or showing a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations.)
- Are you pleasing?
- Are you agreeable?
- Are you delightful?
For all of these I could guess you probably answered, "yes...at times...sometimes...I could work at it a bit...but yes, I am generally good...I'm not like that guy over there. (pointing to me...who's stuffing her face with Doritos)"
But you would admit, willingly, that you are not these things 100% 24/7. Correct? Me either. Let me ask you another question, why then should you be granted eternal bliss with the Almighty and Perfect God? (Because heaven is not really a granting of all your wishes, it is heaven=perfection=being with God=Designer).
I know what you're thinking right now-"Well, that depends on what god your talking about. We all have different believes you know."
Alright. Alright, I understand. Completely understand. Let's look at it at a different angle then...
Let's say your parents and you have this dart board.
The dart board is your height and directly in front of you.
You have all the advantage.
You're parents make a deal with you.
If you hit the target during their game,
they will give you anything you want.
So of course you play!
You've been wanting $1000 so you can go to Vegas with your hot boy/girlfriend :)
You give it you're best effort;
you're sure you'll win,
it's so easy.
But you miss.
And you miss again.
Every time you throw that dart,
you miss.
This is ridiculous! you think to your self.
Luckily,
you have amazing parents
and they let you try,
everyday,
over and over again.
They never say, "Loser"
or
"You suck"
or
"We'll just give up on it already."
They want you to win,
although they know
you can't make that bulls eye.
Ever hear the word "sin"? It literally means that you "missed the mark or target." It is not necessarily a "you crossed the line" because that implies that you went too far. This concerns rather you don't measure up. Even if you don't believe in a god or not the True God of Jesus, you missed the mark at some point in your life.
- Have you ever told a lie? Regardless if it was a "little white lie" or "for a good cause"?
- Have you ever disrespected your parents?
- Have you committed adultery? Looked at a man/woman lustfully? Looked at porn?
- Have you ever had jealousy? Ever craved to have what another person had-riches, spouse, clothing?
And these are only four commandments we were to follow (f.y.i: there's 10)!!!
Where are you at? I know I brake these, all of these. The Word of God (YHVH) even says if you just break one commandment, you brake all of them.
Guilty.
like a loving parent,
God let us chose to be part of His world or not.
His world is full of perfection, peace, & joy;
everything we ever truly wanted
(better than $1000 to go to Vegas with your hot boy/girl friend).
He gave us specific rules to follow to keep that perfection.
But we simply could not keep up that standard.
We were/are selfish, prideful and disobedient.
We have all gone astray.
We have all gone our own way.
Knowing we would do this,
but loving us too much to give up on us,
He filled in the gap.
Except instead of a simple handshake
and an apology,
a price had to be paid for where we slacked off.
Jesus, God, paid that price.
We can never excel at the "dart board game",
but we can accept the free gift
of Jesus.
No longer playing the "game"
of being good
or nice.
We can live through the only one who was
GOOD.
Which brings me to the next point. Once you get to the point that you accept the Truth of Jesus's grace and freedom for you, I want you to know He hasn't called you to be nice. He's does call us to be holy as He is holy (meaning set apart for God's use). But nice? Negative. Sometimes the Truth can hurt and make enemies more than friends. I am not saying not to be kind, patient and gentle because these are the fruits of the Spirit-this is proof that God lives in you. I just want you to know your mission in life is not to please others, it is to please God. Why? Why not?
{So please, please...don't brag about me being "good" or "nice". That is not what I want to be remembered for.}
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