If you could score it, I’d say many sensitive, socially concerned unbelievers do a lot more good on this earth than some Christians.
Unfortunately, good people go to hell.
Like me, do you wonder how nice people manage to care for the world without knowing Jesus and living in the power of the Holy Spirit?
I lose sight of the answer at times.
God isn’t going to zap an unbeliever who is about to lend a hand or start a great cause.
I’m learning to remember that goodness or righteousness should reflect a love of God, acknowledge that He’s at work in us and that He should be getting the glory.
When a caring person helps someone in need (i.e. pays for their groceries at a store), how can the giver’s heart align with the Lord’s if there isn’t a connection in the first place? How can he or she be grateful that God provided the opportunity to be His hands and His feet?
For my part, I’m just grateful that God allows me to be good. And sometimes I remember to reflect on what He’s allowed me to do.
If I’m good, God gets the credit. Positive things he accomplishes in me constantly clash with my sins.
John Piper, a noted Christian leader and author, goes a little deeper with this. He acknowledges that nice deeds by unbelievers reflect what God teaches us in Scripture. But the relationship with God is the missing part.
In one of his teachings, “Total Depravity,” Piper explains it this way:
“It is not done out of reliance on him or for his glory. He is not trusted for the resources, though he gives them all. Nor is his honor exalted, even though that’s his will in all things (1 Corinthians 10:31). Therefore even these ‘good’ acts are part of our rebellion and are not ‘good’ in the sense that really counts in the end—in relation to God.”
I think about a lot of verses – and put my life in perspective. In John 15, Jesus says we can’t really do anything without Him (I figure He’s talking about anything of His will that has merit or is rooted in love).
In Luke 18:19, Jesus tells the rich young ruler: “No one is good – except God alone.”
Travis Carden, a Christian, compiled the “Total Depravity Verse List.”
It’s not easy reading, but it’s the truth. Look at the references to sinners, disobedience, schemers, evil, wickedness, envy, deceit, pride, foolishness and many more.
Humanity benefits from unbelievers and Christians alike. I just need to remember more often that God should be the one who gets the credit.