Once a man came to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?” “Why do you ask me concerning what is good?” answered Jesus. “There is only One who is good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life.”
Matthew 19, 16f
A small child was adopted by foster parents. And they really loved it! And the child was very good. It always helped wherever it was possible. There were never problems at school. Yes, these parents had much luck with the child and were proud of it. But after a few years they found an expensive vase lying on the ground. The vase was smashed. And the next day they saw their good child throwing another valuable vase on the floor. Mom was horrified – her good child suddenly is an evil child! The father went to his garden to work there a while. When he returned, he bent down to the child, took the child in his arms and said: You know that I love you! A long time he held it in his arms. And then the child began to cry. It finally realized that it is loved, whether it behaved well or did something wrong. The struggle, always to be good, could stop.
The man who came to Jesus, had already kept all the commandments, but he felt that he didn’t know God and had no connection to Him. You can’t win anything with just being-good. This is an endless battle and a terrible cramp! Only God is good. He is good-natured, kind, patient, friendly, gracious, gentle, fatherly and warmly. He is good from scratch, there is no question mark! He is the Love in Person. If we want to earn eternal life, we must hold ourselves to Jesus. Only to be good is not enough. Again and again we make a small mistake and our illusion we painstakingly built, falls apart. How good that Jesus has loved us, without asking for what we do! How great that we simply can give Him our failure and then we receive forgiveness. How great that he loves us with no ifs and buts! How liberating that we simply need to follow Him, to trust Him and have to make Him king in our heart. Then all is well!

Thank you, Jesus, You have opened me the way to God! I don’t need to be desperately good! With You I can go through life freely and cheerfully, for you have redeemed me! Hallelujah!

Bible reading today: Psalms 91