A good man?

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. Luke 18:18-19(NIV) 

 A well meaning friend who is a believer called me a good man the other day. I appreciated the compliment and I told him so but I also reminded him that no, I'm not a good man. I also told him that I'm a better man than I used to be. 

 This very topic came up this morning and I brought up the problem with this particular compliment. It's a sentiment used a lot in appreciation of the good things someone does for us, but the good things we do, they do not make us good people. I reminded the folks there that we're not using a right standard for that kind of judgment. I also pointed out that if we accept that kind of praise, in a literal interpretation of Jesus' own words, we are placing ourselves on par with God, without even realizing, nor meaning to. 

 I do take that literally. And I know that judging myself by God's standards, I'll never be a good person because while I do good things, I know the thoughts I sometimes have, and they're not always thoughts that measure up to godly standards. We all have different things from meeting the standard of good, according to Jesus. 

One of the people in the class asked what the right way to compliment someone was. I gave several examples: for instance, thanking them for the good things they do, or thanking them for being caring. We can tell someone we love and appreciate them for who they are. We can find all kinds of ways to compliment someone without telling them they are a good person. 

 Compliments are nice to receive but most often, believers don't do things for the praise. When we receive it, we can feel appreciated but the glory belongs to God and that sense of good feeling is understanding that without God, we'd be unable to do what we did to earn the praise and recognition in the first place.