Wanna prove you're a "Good Person?" Try the Test!

“I’m a good person!” Has that thought ever crossed your mind? Have you ever looked at someone else and thought he or she was a “good person?” What if I told you that you can prove you’re a good person by taking a simple test available now at goodpersontest.com?

You know what? Let’s try taking it together.

The first question is the most basic one: “Do you think you’re a good person?” The answers are either yes or no, so what happens if you choose “yes?” It immediately jumps into the following question: “Have you ever told a lie?” I’m going out on a limb and say you’ll choose “yes,” as everyone has told at least one lie in their life.

Feeling like a "good person" today?

If you choose yes, then the following question is, “If someone lied to you, what would you call them?” The logical answer is you’d call them a liar. Unfortunately, that makes you and I liars as well. While we sometimes say we’re “just human,” or that we’ve “stretched the truth,” the actual truth is we are a liars.

On to the next question: “Have you ever taken anything that did not belong to you?” Even if it was something small? If we’re being painfully honest here, I’d say we’ve all taken at least one thing that didn’t belong to us, right? While it may sound harsh to some, it nonetheless makes us thieves.

Question number three is a toughie and one I don’t want to answer. “Have you ever looked at another person with lust or desire?” Well, because we are sexual beings with sinful natures, I’m going to say the answer is yes. We men are especially good at that, aren’t we?

Jesus says if we’ve done that, we are adulterers. Matthew 5 says to look at someone with lust is to have committed adultery with them. But we aren’t done yet.

Question number four is also an easy one to answer: “Have you ever been angry with another person?” We’ve all been angry with someone. Jesus, Himself says in Matthew 5 that whoever is angry at his brother without a cause is guilty of murder. According to God’s standards, we are all murderers.

Here’s another one that I don’t wanna answer because it’s a resounding yes. “Have you ever taken God’s name in vain?” In vain means using God’s name as a curse word or to express disgust? You sure hear that a lot, especially in modern cinema. If you’ve taken the Lord’s name in vain, such as “G_d Damn it,” you are a blasphemer.

Those are just five of the 10 Commandments we’ve broken. By our own admission and the standard of God’s law, we are lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderous adulterers at heart. Would you be guilty or innocent if God were to judge you by the law? I’d be guilty, for sure.

Based on that guilty verdict, would you go to Heaven or Hell after death? The Bible says that all murderers, adulterers, thieves, and liars will have their place in the lake of fire – Revelation 21:8. If you think you’d still go to Heaven at this point, what do you base that on?

Should God allow murderers, thieves, and adulterers into Heaven? Colossians 1:21 says, “You are an enemy of God by your wicked works.” We’ve already admitted to breaking at least half of the Ten Commandments.

Do you STILL think you’d go to Heaven? If a human judge wouldn’t punish the guilty rapist for his crimes, would you describe him as a just judge? No, he’d be a corrupt judge, something God can never be. Because He is holy, He must judge sin. That means you’d deserve Hell, just like I do for my sins.

Have you figured out that we are not “good people?” If you need any confirmation of that, watch the news or read the headlines these days.

Stop trying to be "Good Enough." Jesus already is!

Here’s the good part about why we went through a long-winded test like that. Despite all we learned today, there is hope, something that the world is in dire need of. The Bible offers hope. Second Peter 3:9 says, “God is not willing that any of us should perish, but that all should come to repentance (turn away from sin and turn to Him).”

Imagine that you’re standing in front of a judge, guilty of serious crimes, all the evidence has gotten presented, and there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind you are guilty. Your apologies and good works of the past mean nothing. The law demands punishment. The fine for your crime is $250,000, and you have no money.

The judge is about to pass a sentence when someone you don’t know rushes into the courtroom and pays your fine. The court accepts the money and says you are free to go. That is exactly what God did for you on the Cross over 2,000 years ago. Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed us His love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus loves you so much that He paid the penalty for your sin, so you wouldn’t have to. That is the very definition of love.

Repent of your sin. That doesn’t mean that you are simply sorry for your sin, it means you turn away from it with the express purpose of not committing it anymore. Realize that your sin separates you from God and ask Him to forgive you for breaking His law.

Are you convinced yet that you can’t work your way to Heaven? You can’t be “good enough.” Not one of us can, but the Good News says we don’t have to! Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith… It’s a gift of God, not of works so that any man may boast (in his own strength).” It is a gift.

Can a gift be “earned?” The answer, of course, is no. And the Good News says you don’t have to worry about earning your way to Heaven. Jesus already made the way. Stop your human striving and look to the Son of God in faith.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved!” It doesn’t say you will be saved in combination with your works being good enough, does it?

Jesus Christ is your only hope. “There is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we can get saved from our sins.” – Acts 4:12.

There is HOPE today! Even as things get crazier, the peace your heart is looking for is found in the salvation offered by Jesus.