To Live is Christ — not my own goodness

After hearing a simple gospel message, four-year-old Hanna looked at me with large brown eyes and said, “But I’ve never murdered anyone.”

Even at her young age, Hanna defended herself against the idea that “all are sinners” by the things that she did not do. In her mind, and in the minds of many, no big sin means no condemnation and salvation is not necessary.

Why do people need to be saved from sin? Is it about murder and stealing and doing horrible things? If it were, where would the dividing line fall? Whose lives would pass muster and be good enough? And whose lives would fall short?

The propensity to sin is something that came into the human race in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and instead did what seemed to them like a good idea. Every person has this same tendency. We do what we think is the best thing for us. Sometimes choices are based on what the Bible says about goodness, such as being kind to others, but godliness is more than goodness, especially our human idea of living a good life.

Godliness is living in a relationship with God where He is our life, where He speaks and we listen. Godliness is Christ in me, like a hand in a glove. Just as a glove cannot move without the hand, I can do no godly thing apart from Jesus Christ. 

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. (Titus 2:11–12)

Both denying sin and saying yes to godliness are possible through the grace of God. Yet self-control and what appears to be a righteous life can happen, in part, without Jesus. It is external and about a strong will, not a changed heart. It is self-determination for personal gain, not an inward motivation from the Holy Spirit. Goodness is self-motivated; godliness has no concern for self gain. Godly people are interested in pleasing only God, often at great personal cost.

Lately I’ve realized the difficulty of explaining this to anyone who thinks they are good. Hanna grew up and eventually took the gospel to heart and became a Christian. Others retain that wide-eyed “Who? Me?” childhood response to the gospel into adulthood. Some take it to their grave. They have decided that their goodness is good enough.

Isaiah 53 describes the coming Messiah and His death for the sins of the world. He says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Every living person turns to their own way, whether that includes murdering someone who gets in their way or simply deciding for themselves that their goodness is good enough. It is for this self-directed living, this ignoring or denying what God says about sin, that Christ died.

To live is Christ means letting grace teach me what to deny, but also how to live in His power. It means avoiding contentment with mere outward appearances and letting His Spirit deeply convict and cleanse me. It means yielding to grace that can conquer the sin that is in me. It means Christ ruling every part of my thoughts, words and deeds and giving Him the glory because without Him, there is no godliness — and my own goodness will never pass the test of God’s judgment.