Humans like to divide people into the “good guys” and the “bad guys” and proclaim themselves to be part of the “good guys.” However, if we are good, why do we consistently think, say, and do bad things?
Good and evil are in every human heart. No one is evil-proof. If you want to fight against bad people, begin with the badness in your own heart.
It’s easy to believe you are a good person, until you have consistently tried to obey your conscience and actually be good. It’s easy to follow your heart and to do whatever you feel like. It’s hard to follow your conscience and to do what is right.
If we were good people, we wouldn’t think and do bad things. We all need God’s forgiveness and mercy, not self-congratulation.
Some people try to be good; none of us completely succeed at it. Believing that you are a good person isn’t the same thing as being one.
If we’re not good 24/7/365, we’re a mixture of good and bad. A good person never thinks or does anything bad. According to the Bible, Jesus is the only one who accomplished that.
The answer to our badness isn’t to call ourselves “good people.” It’s to repent of our badness and live in Christ’s forgiveness. The early Christians’ hope wasn’t in convincing themselves that they were good people, but “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Perhaps the term “toxic people” refers to people who we are unwilling to love, forgive, pray for, and bless.
