Why you’re not a good person

There are no good people, only forgiven and saved people.

Photo by Eutah Mizushima on Unsplash

Have you ever thought so highly about someone?, highlighting their strong stance on morality but in a slip moment you find their defenses down. They do the worst thing you never thought they could ever do.

Have you ever gone to a market to buy some stuff but since you’re not conversant with the prices, you’re offered elevated prices? The only time you get to know is by the tone of your mother’s voice when she asks you for the price of each item. “It’s just the market”, people would tell you. Since when did a profession become so generally inclined to dishonesty?

Have you ever told a secret to a friend, only to become the talk of the room tomorrow? or have you ever been vulnerable to someone and they take advantage of you?

Maybe you’ve thought about how a father could leave his young family for another woman or why your stepmother treated you so poorly. Maybe you’ve wondered why your uncle abused you at such a young age. He took your innocence.

My colleague says this a lot when you go out of your way to do things for others in the office. “You’re a good person”.

At first, I thought passively about that statement and just accepted it as a compliment but the next time I hear that statement from anybody I’m going to sternly say:

“There are no good people”.

There are no good people. I’m not good. I feel the anger that bubbles within me at someone’s slight mistake, and sometimes I get envious of people I don’t know. I exaggerate the truth once in a while and many times I become covetous.

In man is the natural inclination to do wrong. No matter the “good” things you think you’ve done. The schools you funded, the poor you’ve fed, or even how much kindness you think you’ve shown people. Nobody saw you when you turned down that alleyway to buy drugs. Nobody saw you with that girl or guy. Nobody sees your social media feeds. Nobody knows when you tell a little lie from the multitude of your truths.

Nobody knows that you don’t practice what you preach. It’s all a facade, you have to give the people what they want, right? If you know, you know.

I’ve learned to forgive people more because I understand this. I don’t excuse their wrong but I have a little more liberty to look past it.

I’m not good but I know a God who makes me good irrespective of my past. He is the only one who saves and redeems. Saved in the fact that He took the consequences of my wrong actions upon Himself and declared me free before God. He’s the reason I can be labeled good. He is Jesus and He gave His life in exchange for mine to make me “good” and have a relationship with God. He takes away the natural inclination to do wrong and replaces it with a desire to do good things.

This doesn’t mean that sometimes I don’t fall, but that when I do He is able to correct, forgive, and help me love and do good to other people.

There are no good people, only saved and forgiven people.

Till next time, Love and Light from Amaka.