Being good ...

Thursday, Feb 28, 2013. Are you good? Are you good in what you do? Are you excellent? And are you good to other people, to your colleagues, to your customers, you your employees? Being good has many meanings!

Excellence …

Today, excellence is an important topic. Being good means to be skilful, to know something, to have something, to be able. We are judging people according to their capabilities. This is strong in the university sector, but also in some parts of our public life, in some parts of the media.

But goodness is much more. Someone is good when he treats others well. Being good means that you are motivating, that you are helping, that you are friendly and kind. Being good is not linked to extraordinary skills. It is just linked to you being in the right place and doing things in a way which helps your community, which helps the people around you.

We need to change our view of “goodness” and “excellence”. There is a real social need for a change here. Everyone wants excellent products. We want excellent service. We want to be treated kindly and friendly. But that needs flexibility, it needs time and effort for those providing the service. We need to look into the whole setup of our community - and when we do so, when we see every single individual involved in the process, with the different circumstances and needs, then we are able to put it all together in a way which can be called “good”!!

We need more and more people thinking about the whole process of service. We need to take into account the individuals. We need to take all the rules into account. We need to balance different needs. With all this, we can reach a lot!

Good in the eyes of God …

But a view onto goodness which does not take God into account, is really limited. God is the source of life, and he is the purpose and target of anything that is. What is “good”, when it is not oriented towards him? What is “good”, when it lost the connection to its origin? What is “good” when it does not serve his purposes?

God wants to be the reason of our life. It is a matter of truth, since indeed he is our source and origin. He wants to be the center of our existence. We are good, when we live in him and with him. The point of the cross is that God alone can give us purity and goodness - in Jesus.

Sometimes, the message of the cross sounds more theoretical to us. But when it comes to the questions: “Are your good? Is your life a success?”, then we need to talk about the cross! As long as our life is built on our skills, we are lost. As long as it is built on our will, we are lost. But when it is built on his grace, on his purity, on his love, we are found. At the cross he provides all this - love and justice comes together, his dedication, and his power in the resurrection. An in this new center of the universe, we are made good. Here, we are approved. Here, our life starts to be a fantastic success - with or without skills, but with and in faith in him. Here, a blessing starts to flow which is beyond our longing and anything we can imagine! ... more texts