I Am Not a Good Person

I see people going through struggles I’ve never had to face and wonder why them and not me. I know I’m no better than they are. That’s kind of the opposite of how it usually goes. Folks find themselves in terrible circumstances and wonder, “Why me? I’m a good person.”

But I don’t think of myself as a good person. Mostly because I know me. I know every time I pre-judge, am rude and am harsh. I know the ugly thoughts that give birth to ugly words and actions. Maybe on my list of what I've never done, I could list murder… unless you count the ugly words I've said that perhaps killed a person inside. I could list all the bad things I've never done and try to claim it, but I think to be considered a truly good person, it would take more than a list of what I've not done.

I would need a list of the good I have done. I give to charities some. I let a stranger have a quarter yesterday. I cook for my family and do their laundry. But then there are the few who really do good, beyond what seems possible. Pastor Lee Jong-rak of The Drop Box Film for example. He takes in orphans and he and his wife choose to mother and father them all. He has given up money because he and his wife have had to work hard to provide for all those children along with his biological disabled son. I know he has given up sleep based my experience as mother of three. Parenting is not easy. He chooses fatigue and frustration and poverty for children that are not his responsibility.

A story like Pastor Lee’s needs to be shared. It shows the true power of Christ and his command to love God and love others. This is why that is the greatest commandment. You can’t debate it. It isn't about politics or forcing the public to act like Christians when they are not. This man picks up the throwaways of the world, calls them his children and loves them to the point that he is willing to die to protect them.

John 15:13New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

Listen Folowers of Jesus, if you want to change the world, look at Pastor Lee, read your Bible and live the way he lives. No one can debate the effect that will follow. It isn't about excluding anyone or pointing fingers. It is love beyond reason and it gets noticed and it softens hearts and makes those who witness it ask, “Why? How?” And the answer is, “I do this because Jesus first did this for me.”