Basically Good

by Garry Floyd

I used Ecclesiastes 7:29 to make the point that mankind is not basically good. The “Basically Good” title denotes the idea that mankind’s standard of good, outside of God’s standard, makes it not good, not even ‘basically good’ as most people think they are.

My concern is that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (who are following God’s will) may have been left feeling they were counted among ‘most people’ which would be wrong scripturally speaking (I Corinthians 1:9). As the “Called Out” who follow God’s will, His goodness establishes us as saving salt and the lights of the world (Matthew 5:13-16).

The world of fleshly man will never have the standard of what makes us good. God’s will is what makes us good (James 3:17). As Christians, we must strive toward the goodness of God rather than man. At the same time, we must realize that because we are flesh, we’re as susceptible as all of mankind in getting caught up in our fleshly desires and fall into sin, especially if we accept man’s standards and we get complacent, believing we are ‘basically good’ – (I Corinthians 10:12)