Is There Such a Thing as a Good Christian?
I have a question for you. Are you a good Christian?
Before you answer, let's establish a few qualifications. Have you murdered anyone recently? Committed adultery? Robbed a bank? Started a criminal organization out of your garage?
No? Well, congratulations. You're off to a promising start. Of course, if you answered yes to any of those questions, we probably need to have a very different conversation.
But for the rest of us, things are looking pretty good. At least until Jesus gets involved.
Most of us have a convenient way of measuring goodness. We look at the things we haven't done, compare ourselves with people who have done worse, and conclude that we're doing reasonably well. We might have a temper, but we're not violent. We might entertain an inappropriate thought, but we'd never actually cheat on our spouse. We might exaggerate the truth, but we're certainly not dishonest people. We might hold a grudge, but only because the other person genuinely deserves it.
Funny how that works. We can usually find a way to make our own sin seem a little less serious than someone else's.
And that's where the trouble begins.
The Problem Isn't Just Out There
It's easy to look around at the world and recognize sin. Broken marriages. Dishonesty. Addiction. Hatred. Greed. Pride. We see the consequences everywhere. But recognizing sin in someone else's life is considerably easier than confronting it in our own.
We can identify someone else's pride while defending our own arrogance. We can criticize dishonesty while conveniently leaving out details that make us look better. We can condemn hatred while privately enjoying the misfortune of someone we dislike.
Sin has an interesting way of looking much uglier from the outside.
And this isn't a problem reserved for people who are new to faith or struggling in their relationship with God. It's universal. The person who walked into church for the first time last Sunday struggles with sin. The person who has attended church for fifty years struggles with sin. The pastor preaching from the pulpit struggles with sin. And the person writing this article certainly struggles with sin.
Romans 3:23 tells us, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (ESV).
All. That's a remarkably inclusive word. There isn't an exemption for perfect attendance, theological education, ministry involvement, or the number of Bible verses you've memorized.
We all need the grace of Jesus. And we all need to take sin seriously.
When Jesus Ruined My Scorecard
When I was younger, I remember reading the Sermon on the Mount and thinking Jesus had set the standard impossibly high.
In Matthew 5, Jesus begins by addressing murder. Now, that's a commandment most of us feel pretty confident about. Don't murder anyone. Check.
Then Jesus says:
"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment..." (Matthew 5:22, ESV)
Wait a minute. I thought we were talking about murder. Suddenly, Jesus is talking about what's happening inside my heart.
He continues with adultery. Again, many of us might feel relatively confident about our record. Then He says:
"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28, ESV)
Well, there goes that scorecard.
Jesus takes commandments we think we've managed to keep and reveals something far more uncomfortable. God isn't interested only in whether we've avoided the worst possible outcome. He sees what's happening inside us. The anger we nurture. The lust we entertain. The bitterness we justify. The pride we disguise as confidence.
Suddenly, the question isn't whether I'm better than the person sitting next to me. It's whether my heart is becoming more like Jesus.
For years, I understood these passages primarily as Jesus raising the bar beyond anything I could accomplish. And in one sense, that's exactly what they reveal. None of us can establish our own righteousness through perfect obedience.
But with more life experience, I've begun to appreciate another lesson in His words. Jesus is showing us where sin begins, long before it becomes something everyone else can see.
Nobody Plans a Five-Alarm Fire
Imagine waking up to discover your kitchen is on fire. Flames are climbing the cabinets, smoke is filling the hallway, and your smoke detector is screaming at you. Apparently, those batteries you kept meaning to replace were still good after all.
What do you do? Hopefully, you get everyone out and call 911. What you probably don't do is pour yourself a cup of coffee and say, "Well, it's only the kitchen."
Yet sometimes that's exactly how we approach sin.
We recognize something developing in our lives that isn't right, but convince ourselves it isn't serious enough to address. It's just a little resentment. A harmless flirtation. A small lie. A private habit. Nothing worth getting worked up about.
Until one day we look around at the damage and wonder how everything became a five-alarm fire.
An affair rarely begins with a kiss. It might begin with an innocent conversation or an offer to help someone. There's nothing wrong with helping people, but when the attention becomes something we begin to seek, and boundaries quietly shift, an innocent beginning can lead somewhere we never intended.
Hatred rarely begins as hatred, either. It might begin with an offense we refuse to forgive. We replay the conversation, rehearse our arguments, and gradually allow resentment to shape how we see another person.
That's what makes sin so dangerous. It doesn't always announce itself with flashing lights and warning sirens. Sometimes it arrives looking perfectly reasonable.
Before the Elephant Shows Up
A friend recently said something that really stuck with me:
"It's easier to bury a fly than an elephant."
I love that statement. Partly because it's true, and partly because I can't help imagining the conversation with your neighbors when you rent an excavator to dig a hole in the backyard.
"Everything okay over there?"
"Yeah. Just burying an elephant."
There are going to be questions.
But there's a powerful spiritual lesson here. The longer we entertain sin, the more difficult it often becomes to confront. A small lie is easier to correct before it becomes an elaborate story. A moment of anger is easier to address before it becomes years of bitterness. An inappropriate conversation is easier to end before it becomes a secret relationship.
The point isn't that every temptation leads to disaster. Temptation itself isn't the same as choosing to sin. The danger comes when we begin entertaining what we know is wrong and convincing ourselves that it doesn't matter.
Jesus understood the importance of confronting what happens in our hearts. His teaching in Matthew 5 doesn't simply address the outward act of murder or adultery. It calls us to take seriously the anger and lust we allow to grow within us.
And that's a lesson for all of us, not just the person whose life has already fallen apart.
Because we all have flies we'd rather ignore.
The Problem We Cannot Solve Alone
Here's where things get uncomfortable. Even when we recognize sin, we don't always stop. Sometimes we know exactly what we're doing. We know the thought is wrong, the attitude is unhealthy, or the conversation is crossing a line. And yet we continue.
Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7:19:
"For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." (ESV)
Have you ever felt that?
You decide you're going to be more patient with your family. Then someone leaves their shoes by the couch in the middle of the living room for the fourteenth time, and suddenly you're delivering a sermon on personal responsibility that nobody asked to hear.
You determine you're going to stop criticizing people. Then someone does something ridiculous, and before you know it, you've assembled a small committee to discuss their shortcomings.
We know what we should do, yet we still find ourselves struggling to do it.
That's why the answer to our sin problem cannot simply be trying harder.
Jesus didn't come merely to point out our sin. He came to save us from it.
Grace Is Not Permission to Stay
One of the most dangerous misunderstandings of God's grace is the idea that because Jesus forgives sin, we don't need to be particularly concerned about it.
After all, nobody's perfect. God understands. We're all works in progress.
Those statements contain truth, but they can also become convenient excuses for refusing to change.
Paul confronts this directly in Romans 6:1–2:
"Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!" (ESV)
Grace isn't permission to become comfortable with the very things Jesus came to free us from. It's the reason we can turn away from them.
Through Christ, we're offered forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and a new life shaped by the Holy Spirit. We aren't left to fight sin through willpower alone, but neither are we invited to surrender to it.
Jesus calls us to repentance. Not simply feeling guilty or promising we'll try harder next Monday, but recognizing where we're headed and turning toward God.
That invitation is for everyone. The person taking their first steps toward Jesus, the person who has followed Him for decades, and the person who has found themselves with a giant pet elephant they have no idea what to do with.
But all jokes aside, sin can have devastating consequences. And if you've found yourself in a place of real brokenness because of choices you've made, I want you to hear this: Your worst moments do not have to define the rest of your story. There is still good news. Jesus meets us in our brokenness, offers forgiveness, and can begin restoring what sin has damaged. The consequences may not disappear, and the road forward may not be easy, but no failure places you beyond the reach of His grace.
Romans 8:1 reminds us, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (ESV).
That's the beauty of the gospel. Our past may have consequences, but through Jesus, it doesn't have to determine our future.
And that brings us back to the question we started with.
If being a good Christian isn't about having a spotless record, what does goodness actually look like?
So, What Does a Good Christian Look Like?
As a father, I think about my own children. I can look at them and confidently say they're good children. Does that mean they always listen, make the right decisions, or live up to every expectation? Absolutely not. If perfection were the standard, I'm afraid none of us would survive parenthood.
But I don't measure the goodness of my children by their worst moments. I know them. I know their hearts, their struggles, and the ways they're growing. I see more than their mistakes because I have a relationship with them.
And that makes me wonder why we sometimes approach our relationship with God as though He sees nothing but our mistakes.
God knows us more completely than any earthly parent could ever know their children. He sees the things we try to hide, the failures we regret, and the struggles nobody else knows about. Yet through Jesus Christ, He welcomes us into His family as beloved sons and daughters. His love doesn't excuse our sin, but neither does it reduce our identity to our failures.
Consider David. In Acts 13:22, God describes him as a man after His own heart. Yet David's life included adultery, deception, and murder. His failures were serious, and the consequences were devastating. Scripture doesn't excuse any of it.
But David's story also reveals a man who loved God, sought Him, worshiped Him, and, when confronted with his sin, eventually humbled himself in repentance. Psalm 51 reveals a man who understood that what he needed most wasn't a better reputation, but a restored relationship with God.
David wasn't called a man after God's own heart because he was flawless. His life demonstrated something deeper: a heart that, despite terrible failures, turned back toward the Lord.
And I believe that gives us a picture of what a good Christian can be.
Someone who knows Jesus because they spend time with Him. Who reads Scripture to understand God's heart, prays because they desire a relationship with Him, and allows His Word to shape their decisions. Someone who grows intentionally, walks in community with other believers, welcomes correction, serves others, and lives on mission.
Not someone who has everything figured out, but someone who knows whom they're following.
Jesus says in John 15:5, "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (ESV).
That's where genuine spiritual growth begins. Prayer, Scripture, community, and service aren't boxes we check to earn God's approval. They're ways we cultivate our relationship with Him and participate in the life He's called us to live.
We don't become more like Jesus simply by concentrating harder on being good. We grow as we remain close to Him, allowing His Spirit to shape our hearts and produce fruit in our lives.
And when we stumble, we repent and return to Him. Not because our sin is insignificant, but because His grace is greater.
One Step Forward
I often think about the day when this life is over and I finally stand before Jesus. I imagine walking into His arms, knowing my time here is finished.
What I desire more than anything is for Him to be pleased with how I lived the life He gave me. Not because I accomplished everything perfectly, but because I sought His heart, loved the people He placed in my life, and faithfully pursued the purpose for which He created me.
In Matthew 25:21, Jesus tells a parable in which a master welcomes his servant with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (ESV).
What a beautiful thing to hear.
The master's praise is about faithfulness with what was entrusted to the servant, not simply the size of his accomplishments. And those words aren't an invitation to earn salvation through good works. Salvation is God's gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But they remind us that what we do with the life we've been given matters.
We weren't created simply to avoid doing bad things. We were created to know God, glorify Him, love others, and participate in the work He's doing in the world.
So what does that look like on an ordinary Tuesday? It looks like releasing resentment, refusing a temptation, extending forgiveness, and seeking God's heart. It looks like taking opportunities to serve others, even when nobody notices. These choices may seem insignificant, but together they shape the direction of our lives.
Yes, I believe there is such a thing as a good Christian. Not because any of us is inherently good enough, but because through Jesus we can become faithful sons and daughters who genuinely pursue the heart of our Father.
We don't have to wait until we're perfect to begin living that way. We can start today.
One day, I hope we hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Until then, may we live each day pursuing His heart, loving His people, and faithfully fulfilling the purpose for which He created us.
And take one step forward.
Join the Conversation
What's one seemingly small choice you've learned can have a significant impact on your spiritual life?
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