“Listen, I'm not a bad person. I'm a doctor.  One of the reasons I wanted to become a doctor was because I thought it would be a good - as in Good rather than exciting or well-paid or glamorous - thing to do …”

So says Kate Carr in How to Be Good, by Nick Hornby.  The book explores all sorts of important questions about goodness: What is goodness?  How can it be acquired?  Do we want it badly enough, and if not how can we acquire a desire to be good?

Being good is important, that’s what we were told at school and by our parents and in many other ways.

But what does Jesus say about being good?

“unless your goodness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven”

Matthew 5:20 [NIV]

The Pharisees and teachers of the law were the greatest examples of people who did the right thing in Jesus’ time, they were people who were expert at being good.  How do you think they felt about Jesus’ words?  How do you feel about Jesus’ words?

Talk to Jesus about how you feel about this, and see what he says to you.