Good in Retrospect?

I was just thinking today about good. Well, not good in the concept of good vs. evil. However, more in object comparison. Those who have been in church awhile especially the more traditionally minded churches have heard the phrase, "God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good." My motto is, God is good when I am not." Therefore, in the light of those sayings, I must never be good. I know that to a point we can be moralistically good by comparison to other humans. However, in the eyes of God we cannot be good.  Even the Bible proves this concept. Look at the following scriptures:

Ecclesiastes 7:20

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Psalm 14:3

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Mark 10:18

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Luke 18:19

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Romans 3:12

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

I am sure if you try hard enough, you could dig up more. However, we can see that it is consistent that we are not good.

Now, where some people may see this as a very negative though process, I see this as very positive and hopeful. Again, you may be questioning my logic by calling this hopeful. You may even say that this is a hopeless path of thought. However, I would like us to think if there was a time when we thought, "Man, I can't get anything right." or "Why did I do that when I know it was wrong?" Maybe you have never had those thoughts but I can guarantee that there has been a time when you have done something you know wasn't right and felt some remorse or regret for it. (If you have never felt that way then I would love to talk to you!) 

I see the hope in this because God gives us grace. The only one good is God and He loves us to forgive and save us. (I also understand that a non-believer will give this no credibility, which in return is why I write this even more for them to see the love God has for all.) God's ultimate love and mercy is given in His divine providence through His grace. Yes, he made a way through Christ's death and resurrection. This is the hope! Even though we are not good He has chosen us to live in Christ as the Holy Spirit dwells in us. However, we first must believe and confess. Romans 10:9, "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."

Maybe a little clarification before I end this post. If you come to the conclusion of understanding and believing the Word of God, then you will understand this idea of good and bad. You already know that we unable to save ourselves because of our nature being contrary to good. You will also understand that the nature of good can only exist in the Father. (Father being God.) So therefore, our hope is found in the love of God to reconcile us who are bad into Him who is good. I hope that straightens the rabbit trails a bit!

Therefore, in saying all that I hope today you that can have the hope of knowing the one that is good. He gives us a chance to be good, not by our own trying and work but through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is the good news! No more futile working that produces nothing of our own effort. Just simply living in Christ and the Holy Spirit working through us as we love Jesus and are obedient as a result of the love. I pray that you will accept the gift and know one day what good really means!