Theo of Golden, a novel published by a first-time author, has become a viral phenomenon! It’s a bestseller on many ‘must read’ lists. After reading the story, I agree. The story is about an old man’s gentle acts of kindness in a small Georgia town that changes one life after another. When you put it down you want to be a better person. Yes, it’s just full of goodness.

Are you a good person; not a self-righteous judge of others, but rather someone who makes others feel value, who shares in both joy and sorrow, who makes the burdens of life lighter? Once this way of life was lauded as virtuous. Sadly, the ideal of virtue has become suspect, and often it is the ‘bad boy’ character that gets featured in our stories and pop culture. Ask most people if they want to be known as ‘good,’ and you will most likely get a strange stare because “good” is for the weak, the fearful – or is it? The life that is lived without adventure or risk that grows out of fear of criticism or an unwillingness to step outside of norms is not truly virtuous!

Indeed, real virtue is courageous, goes against the stream, and stands against the normal cruelty of humanity. The Bible says that the Spirit’s life in us will produce ‘goodness.’   Both Peter and Paul urge Christians to be virtuous people, people who live with excellence as their guide; practically and personally. Inspired Scripture tells us that those who claim the Name of Christ will be “true, … noble, … just, … pure, … lovely, … good report, … virtue and … praiseworthy.” (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)

I have no desire to be so void of fire or passion that I am a weak man who is incapable of living an effective life. But I want to be known as a good man. Jesus was a man of virtue, yet He was capable of strong emotion, of challenge to those who abused authority, of resisting evil. Children loved him and moneychangers in the Temple fled His wrath!

There is a famine of personal virtue in our nation. The goodness of character that produces self-restraint and respect for others, which causes the pursuit of excellence is being lost. Our radical self-love is destroying the fabric of a nation. The historian, Alexis de Tocqueville of the 18th century, declared that among the Americans he observed there was such virtue that the need for government regulation was reduced to non-existent. They simply did what was right and good! Call me cynical, but I am certain that were he to walk our streets today his conclusion would be very different.

When personal virtue is lost, law must attempt to restrain selfish acts. Greed and injustice are unthinkable to the person of virtue, but they are a natural, even laudable, choice in a society where radical individualism and self-interest is the highest value.

For the Christian, virtue is not just about learning civility or attempting self-discipline. True virtue is made possible by a transformation of the heart by the power of Christ.

Faith in Him breaks the power of evil. He gives us the Spirit who subdues our sinful nature and create a hunger for the good in us. That will cause us to walk with the broken, the fallen, the debauched, those lost and confused, without adopting their values or being corrupted. Yes, the virtue created by the Spirit living in us allows us to “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:15, NIV)

So, are you a person of virtue?
Do you fear being labeld as ‘good’ so much that you will not allow the Spirit of God to develop the beauty of Christ’s holiness in you?

Or are you hungry for God’s goodness, ready to move beyond the natural impulses of selfishness and walk into the Spirit’s plan to make you a noble, holy, and good person?

Here is a word from the Word. May we be challenged to offer ourselves to Jesus and become truly good! “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans (those who do not know God) that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.“ (1 Peter 2:11-12, NIV)