“I’m good!”
“Damn, I’m good!” Please excuse the profanity, but I’ve heard this said in jest many times. It comes from the freedom-loving, agnostic, modern Galileans, the bold and jocular cynics. It can come from rejoicing in a job done and done well. Its a pat on self’s back. Maybe it is not meant to be evil, but it is a spiritual Freudian slip of self-exaltation.
The expression really speaks of humanity’s #1 problem. “I’m good!” is what everyone thinks of himself. I’ve heard it said sometimes, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But the problem with that assumption is that none of us are good.
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10).
Jesus said, “Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matt. 19:17).
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).
“I’m good!” never came out of Jesus’ mouth. Should it ever escape our lips? And “Damn” actually goes together correctly with “I’m good!” Though an expletive said in fun, damnation is the reality of judgment day, and the evil of that day will actually come to billions of folks who never looked to God’s law for conviction, conversion, counsel, and cleansing. So they consigned themselves to fail in judgment, all the while they judged themselves by their own standard. For them it was a comfortable frame of mind to never let the conviction of God’s Law disturb accomplishment and proud self-esteem.
They thought themselves good enough, and never prepared to stand before Christ’s measureless, exalted character. So if they die never having accepted His humbling, eventually their “I’m good” damns them. “Damn, I’m good!” though continued in jest, unwittingly is their undoing and spells their sentence of guilt in their investigative judgment.
But even if not articulated, this mindset lives in every human heart. It has brought on all the carelessness toward sin and repentance that has plagued the human race since its fall from Eden. It has tainted all the revivals and reformations which the Spirit of God has worked out for the blessing of humanity, sending those revivals and reformations to their demise.
From the beginning “I’m good enough” has prevented conviction to do its perfect work.
The expression really speaks of humanity’s #1 problem. “I’m good!” is what everyone thinks of himself. I’ve heard it said sometimes, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But the problem with that assumption is that none of us are good.
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10).
Jesus said, “Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matt. 19:17).
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).
“I’m good!” never came out of Jesus’ mouth. Should it ever escape our lips? And “Damn” actually goes together correctly with “I’m good!” Though an expletive said in fun, damnation is the reality of judgment day, and the evil of that day will actually come to billions of folks who never looked to God’s law for conviction, conversion, counsel, and cleansing. So they consigned themselves to fail in judgment, all the while they judged themselves by their own standard. For them it was a comfortable frame of mind to never let the conviction of God’s Law disturb accomplishment and proud self-esteem.
They thought themselves good enough, and never prepared to stand before Christ’s measureless, exalted character. So if they die never having accepted His humbling, eventually their “I’m good” damns them. “Damn, I’m good!” though continued in jest, unwittingly is their undoing and spells their sentence of guilt in their investigative judgment.
But even if not articulated, this mindset lives in every human heart. It has brought on all the carelessness toward sin and repentance that has plagued the human race since its fall from Eden. It has tainted all the revivals and reformations which the Spirit of God has worked out for the blessing of humanity, sending those revivals and reformations to their demise.
From the beginning “I’m good enough” has prevented conviction to do its perfect work.
posted by David | 1:42 PM
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