Luke 10:29 – But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

Mark 2:17 – When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Everybody does just enough good to feel they are good.  Good is worse than bad. Good people die and go to hell. Goodness is the enemy of God. A good man is not what you want to be.  People can learn to be good and not love God.

Pastor Hank Thompson

I think sometimes people do just enough good to justify their living and feel good about themselves.    They kind of have a “cream puff” Christianity where they want to taste and feel good things.  Their conscience begins to make them feel guilty so they do some good to sooth it.  They go to church, they read a little Bible, they help an old lady across the street, they buy some Girl Scout Cookies, you name it.  It all boils down to trying to justify our actions.  We don’t want to feel bad about what we are doing.  To justify ourselves, we find someone a little worse than we are to compare ourselves to.  That is usually not all that hard.  No one wants to think of themselves as sinners.

The problem is Jesus Christ only came to call sinners to repentance.  The self-righteous, or those who do good to feel good, are not called.  They have no place in heaven.  They are not sick, so they think, so they do not need Dr. Jesus.  The Bible says everyone is a sinner in need of repentance.  However, there are few who are willing to admit it because of pride.  There are also many who try to do good to earn God’s favor to get to heaven than trust on Christ alone.  You are justifying self.  You trying to earn salvation and not take the free gift that Christ offered.

There is also the born again Christian who tries to earn favor with God by doing good just enough good to feel good.  It does not work then either.  The only way you are going to feel good after you sin is by true, heart-felt repentance.  Your have to love of God and not just have a self justifying respect like the elder brother in the story of the prodigal.  There has to be a walk with God.  If you are just enough good to feel good, then I would question my salvation or my walk with God.  You just have to admit you have a disease that needs fixing by the great physician.  The elder brother never really figured that out.  Why don’t you quit doing good just to feel good and come clean with God?