The Complexness Of Simplicity

This weekend, I was having a conversation with a friend about one of my many flaws, and she said something that caused me to stop and think. She said that even though I have these struggles, she knows that I'm still a good person. My problem with this statement is that she called me a good person. What makes someone a good person? What scale are we being measured on to see who is good or not? Don't get me wrong, I want to be a good person, and I don't think there is anything wrong with what she said. It just made me think of what constitutes someone as being a good person and what makes someone else not as good of a person. What do we have to do, or what point do we reach when someone doesn't consider us a good person anymore? Did I ever do something to be considered a good person or is it because I haven't done something that makes me a good person?

If she is talking about whether God would consider me a good person or not, I'm scared of what He would respond. I would, regretfully, have to admit that I am guilty of disappointing God more than pleasing him, but God doesn't hold grudges like we do. I do feel like God judges more on the heart than He does on the actions. This being the case, no one can really reassure us of whether God thinks we are good people because He is the only one who knows the nature of our heart.

I know you're thinking, "Calm down. You're reading entirely too much into this." and I know this, but I'm doing it on purpose just to provoke some thought into this statement. We call someone a good person because of what we personally think of them. The only true things my friend knows about me is what I have told her or what she has seen through my actions. If this reasoning holds constant for everyone in our lives, I'm sure there are a lot of people that might think the opposite of my friend (just ask any of my ex girlfriends).

Anyways, this was probably a complete waste of your time, but it has been on my mind. I'm not fishing for anyone to tell me what they think of me, but how about I turn it on you like this: if being labeled "a good person" is what everyone else personally thinks of you, what have you done for those around you lately? If you had to drop your reputation today, and start all over tomorrow like everyone that you come in contact with is a stranger, would they call you a good person? How about this, should we worry about if others consider us good or should we be more worried about if God is going to say, "Well done good and faithful..." and if that's right, which one do we concentrate on more: pleasing God or pleasing others? If we did just worry about pleasing God, wouldn't everything else just fall in line as well?

Oh so much to think about...