Good...

Jesus made a disconcerting comment as he talked with the famous “rich young ruler” of Luke 18.  When the young man approached the Lord, he addressed Jesus as “Good teacher”.  Now this was certainly a respectful form of address but Jesus was not so impressed.  His reply was biting.  "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God alone. (Luke 18:19-20 NIV)  This is most informative if we can get past the seeming rudeness of the retort.  Jesus made it perfectly clear without any wiggle room that there is no one good…just God.  This is not self-deprecation: it is stating the clear fact.  Nothing good exists except what is in God, from God and with God.   The source of any good is God and without Him there is no good.  Good is not a relative term; good compared to not so good.  Good is determined by its source.  From God and it is good, outside of Him and it is not.  You and I are not the source of good and we do not decide if something is good or not.  Good is not an arbitrary assessment we make; good is determined by how anything at any moment relates to God.  Take the Lord out of a thought, out of an idea, out of a behavior and it is no longer good.  Regardless of how an event may turn, how a circumstance may look, it is good if your eyes are fixed upon God and your heart is determined to follow Him.  The command of Hebrews 12: 2 to fix our eyes upon Jesus is not a symbolic gesture, it is an act of the will to look to Christ for everything from how to think about something to how to act.  Take your eyes off the Lord and what can seem good, like Peter walking on water can become a disaster in a moment as he began to sink with his eyes on the waves.