July 8th, 2024
Written by Amanda Allums
The other day I came across this short video from a mom who posts satire videos. In this particular video she stated that her school sent a note home with her son complaining that the lunches she packed for him were not healthy enough and that she needed to pack healthier foods for him. She disagreed and stated that her son deserved to eat the foods that he liked whether they were healthy or not because he was a good boy. So her solution was to disguise unhealthy foods as healthy foods. She made chocolate ice cream look like steak and angel food cake look like potato fries. This video was a complete joke, but some people did not know that. I read the comments and people were bashing this mom for doing this. They were commenting that she was a bad mom and she should care more about her son’s health, and that he was going to grow up and get diabetes.
We live in a world where people are turning their sons into daughters and their daughters into sons and they do not think twice about how it is going to affect their children in the future, yet they complain about another parent feeding their kid unhealthy food. The world has redefined the definition of “good.” Just because someone gives to the poor, is agreeable, or is a nice person, we think they are good. But God says that being good is having righteous behavior. In the New Testament many words describe the specific characteristics and behaviors of good people, including "just/justness," "righteous/righteousness," "holy/holiness," "pure/pureness," "gentle/gentleness," and "kind/kindness." In fact, it is not enough to just be good. We must be good while also avoiding evil. The choice between good and evil has lain before people since the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9). We can’t simply claim ignorance because we, as the human race and even as small children, have an innate sense between good and evil.
But where we as Christians must take good and evil into account, is as we grow in our knowledge of Christ and as we study His Word and hear messages that convict and challenge us; it is then that our eyes are opened and we must make a conscious decision to choose to do good or choose to ignore what we know is right and engage in sin.
The Bible says in Matthew 24:12, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” The Bible also says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). I believe we are living in the last days where people are doing whatever they want to do whether it is good for them or not, and even if they know it is wrong. Like the old saying goes, “if it feels good, do it.”
As children of God, we must choose righteous living and turn away from evil. In order to do good, we must have a good heart. Our behavior cannot just look a certain way. God knows our intentions and our heart. Goodness and evil both flow from inside of us, so whatever is inside of you will come out.
Does your goodness flow from your love for God and your love for people? Or does it flow from a selfish and evil place wanting to be liked by people and trying to earn their love? True love points people to God and to being more like Him, kind, compassionate, holy, and gentle–not quick to anger, gossiping, or simply being agreeable. We must speak truth in love and stand for what is right, even if it seems we are the only ones. We must encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to be good in the eyes of the Lord; not the world’s definition of good; even if that means not being liked by everyone. Remember, not everyone liked Jesus either. He tells us in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”. I encourage you to do what is right in the sight of the Lord and let the world be influenced by it or angered by it. Either way, the judgment is the Lord’s.
The other day I came across this short video from a mom who posts satire videos. In this particular video she stated that her school sent a note home with her son complaining that the lunches she packed for him were not healthy enough and that she needed to pack healthier foods for him. She disagreed and stated that her son deserved to eat the foods that he liked whether they were healthy or not because he was a good boy. So her solution was to disguise unhealthy foods as healthy foods. She made chocolate ice cream look like steak and angel food cake look like potato fries. This video was a complete joke, but some people did not know that. I read the comments and people were bashing this mom for doing this. They were commenting that she was a bad mom and she should care more about her son’s health, and that he was going to grow up and get diabetes.
We live in a world where people are turning their sons into daughters and their daughters into sons and they do not think twice about how it is going to affect their children in the future, yet they complain about another parent feeding their kid unhealthy food. The world has redefined the definition of “good.” Just because someone gives to the poor, is agreeable, or is a nice person, we think they are good. But God says that being good is having righteous behavior. In the New Testament many words describe the specific characteristics and behaviors of good people, including "just/justness," "righteous/righteousness," "holy/holiness," "pure/pureness," "gentle/gentleness," and "kind/kindness." In fact, it is not enough to just be good. We must be good while also avoiding evil. The choice between good and evil has lain before people since the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9). We can’t simply claim ignorance because we, as the human race and even as small children, have an innate sense between good and evil.
But where we as Christians must take good and evil into account, is as we grow in our knowledge of Christ and as we study His Word and hear messages that convict and challenge us; it is then that our eyes are opened and we must make a conscious decision to choose to do good or choose to ignore what we know is right and engage in sin.
The Bible says in Matthew 24:12, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” The Bible also says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). I believe we are living in the last days where people are doing whatever they want to do whether it is good for them or not, and even if they know it is wrong. Like the old saying goes, “if it feels good, do it.”
As children of God, we must choose righteous living and turn away from evil. In order to do good, we must have a good heart. Our behavior cannot just look a certain way. God knows our intentions and our heart. Goodness and evil both flow from inside of us, so whatever is inside of you will come out.
Does your goodness flow from your love for God and your love for people? Or does it flow from a selfish and evil place wanting to be liked by people and trying to earn their love? True love points people to God and to being more like Him, kind, compassionate, holy, and gentle–not quick to anger, gossiping, or simply being agreeable. We must speak truth in love and stand for what is right, even if it seems we are the only ones. We must encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to be good in the eyes of the Lord; not the world’s definition of good; even if that means not being liked by everyone. Remember, not everyone liked Jesus either. He tells us in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”. I encourage you to do what is right in the sight of the Lord and let the world be influenced by it or angered by it. Either way, the judgment is the Lord’s.
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