“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”  John 3:16-17.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was one of those “good people”.  I worked hard, played hard and was trucking right on through life.  Good times, bad times, hard times and easy times…they all came and they all went.  Sunday mornings was probably my favorite time of the week.  Work all week, catch up on house and yard work on Saturday, then Sunday…exhale and sink in to the sofa for the day.  The thought of actually getting up and going to church on Sunday was the furthest thing from my mind.

The thing about the “good people”, even the ones who recognize God as God and Jesus as His Son, we really thought our success and failures were completely up to us.  What was truly God’s blessing, we thought was luck.  We could look back on our life and think of how “fortunate” we had been.  While in reality, God created us to be in fellowship with Him but due to man’s fall (Adam’s sin), we were condemned to death.  But God so loved the us, that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile us with Him.  Jesus paid our debt on the Cross and redeemed us to God the Father.  Actually, even most of the “good people” know the story of Jesus.  Please keep in mind though, this doesn’t mean your saved…even the demons know Jesus.

Sometimes I wonder though, although we knew the story of the Gospel of Jesus, did we really comprehend the depths and the width of what God has done for us?  Quite emphatically I can say NO!  Unfortunately, us hard headed good people don’t miss something until it’s gone.   We have all lost something or someone and didn’t realize how much we missed it/them until they were gone.  Well, you see, that’s kind of how God works with many of us good folks who are “self sufficient”. As He begins to lift His Hand, the hard times begin to get a little harder and last a little longer.  Some of us are quite tenacious.  We proceed dig our heels in and start fighting that devil.  Eventually, because of God’s love for us, He will break us down to we are at the very end of ourselves.  We are stripped bare, no more dignity and any lingering  pride is long gone.

What do you say then – thanks but no thanks.  You could really do without that kind of “love”, huh?  Lest we forget, we hardly gave the Lord any notice when we were receiving His blessings as one of the good people.  We didn’t understand He loved us then and now we certainly don’t understand since He let this happen to us, we never hurt anyone!  What kind of love is that?

Well, please allow me to give you this, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18.  To be blunt, good people go to hell and God doesn’t want good people to go to hell.  Since we don’t pay any attention to Him while we’re doing good (keep in mind I’m not necessarily talking about financial), He has to try to get our attention.  1 Corinthian 5:5 says “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”  None of these things are fun folks.  We all watch the news and the unbelievers are not spiritually discerned, but even the unbelieving good people can see the evil in the world.

Our salvation is a choice we have to make.  If you are one of those good people who are still doing good, well praise the Lord.  God wants to bless us. The Lord’s goodness is meant to bring us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  No matter the case, if you haven’t made the choice to accept Jesus as you Saviour, then by default you have rejected Him…good person or not.  There are no loop holes for good people.  I pray if you are still one of those good people enjoying your Sunday mornings on the porch, that you will yield to the draw of the Holy Spirit.  I pray you allow the Lord to lead you to a church and not just go to the one everyone else attends.  I pray He gives you discernment between motivational gospel and His Gospel.  I pray you stay at the Cross of Jesus after salvation and don’t allow man to steer you away to another gospel which teaches you their “how to’s” and stands in the way of the Holy Spirit guiding you.

Most of all I pray you realize, even good people have to make this choice.  I pray you choose Jesus Christ while He is still your Saviour and not your Judge.  – Donna Warren