Good People
Who are good people? What are the attributes of a good person? These questions that need defining.If you think about what defines a good person, you may be quick to conclude it’s that guy or lady that lets everything happen to them without uttering a complaint. Or you may want to think of the nice person that lets everyone walk across them while keeping a smile.
While these are some good traits, it doesn’t holistically define what or who a good person is.
So, is a good person only one who believes in God? Not necessarily so.
Think about being good as a disposition of acting in the interest of what is beneficial, ethical, or moral. If you’ve looked around, you’d find that these kinds of people are not only found in church.
There’s an inherent level of goodness man possesses. As much as goodness is also a fruit of the Spirit, there is some residue of it in the fallen man. The question only is “To what extent?”
Good people are everywhere. They may be limited in their quest to do what is right and moral but they have the desire to do better.
We find them in church and outside of church. We find them in the bank, in the market, on the streets, and everywhere of human endeavor.
They love doing what is right and will go to great lengths to make things work in the way it should. They may not be able to explain what drives them to doing so, but I know what it is. It’s the “God” in them. The Bible says,
Job 32:8 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
I have reason to believe that this spirit is not the Holy Spirit that comes to the regenerate man. It is the spirit that has remained in every human even after the fall from glory.
The Bible says that there is a consciousness in man that gives them a witness of what is good. We have the understanding of what is right and what is wrong. This is what God has put in us. When people adhere to this voice and are led by it, we may call them good people. On the other hand, most people shut their ears and hearts to the voice of goodness that resounds in their heart. The Bible says,
Rom 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.
The law of God’s righteousness is written on our hearts even before we accept Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit. For the natural man, adhering to that voice makes them good people. For the spiritual, regenerate person, the Holy Spirit in them doubly enforces the power to do good.
Bad Things
What do we say about bad things? They are everywhere, that’s for sure. They happen every day. From natural events to those things that have been generated by the works of humans.
A bad thing is the total opposite of what is good. It is something unfavorable, negative, or not good. Bad things are unpalatable and unattractive.
Bad things include accidents, natural disasters, failed businesses, being fired from a job, losing a loved one, losing money, or any other events that keep tears and sorrow within your corridors.
Bad things happen to people. But people must always find a way to get out of the storm when it blows hot.
Why Bad Things Happen To Good People
Why do bad things happen to good people? A million dollar question.
We may wonder at this because if we went by the law of attraction, everything should attract its own kind. Right? So, how come bad things don’t happen to bad people and good things happen to good people? I’ll tell you why. For this, we have to go back to the book of beginnings and find and explanation there.
We may even have to go far back beyond the book of beginnings into a time pre-dated. Back to the fall of Lucifer.
From a time before the creation of man and the earth, there is an old story we know. It’s how we know evil to have started. This is the first point of contact we find in the Scriptures. We see how Lucifer became Satan through the corruption of pride and he was thrown down to earth.
Rev 12:7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,
Rev 12:8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
The devil was thrown to the earth where you and I now live. He came here first with his legion of fallen angels. They made war against God and His ordinances, and still do so today. They are on a mission to pervert every good thing in sight.
This agitation led to the deceit of Adam and Eve. Satan in his continued war against God’s precepts, brought death to man. Genesis chapter 3, records how Satan deceived the “good” people God made into sin. This sin brought and still brings death just as God warned.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
When God said there would be death, it left open a door of inventiveness for the angel of death – the bringer of death.
There has been an eternity-long contention between good and evil. Death comes to humans in diverse ways and unfortunately, good people are not isolated from these experiences.
Good people will always be plagued with evil experiences because it is Satan’s attempt to destroy whatever good thing he meets.
Much more for believers, there is a more intense agitation against us. It also began with the fall of Satan when he was banished from heaven. Here’s what the Bible says,
Rev 12:17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
If Satan attacks those with the natural tendency of doing good and walking uprightly, think how much more a believer’s life is threatened.
Believers will feel the full wrath of Satan while they live on the earth. He will bring diverse afflictions all in an attempt to sway us from following God or to destroy our lives.
Jesus said,
Joh 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
It is a contention between good and evil, and good people will always be casualities in the earthly battle. But thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph. We have the peace that is from God. We have a hope that keeps us strong even while we cry today for the evils that tempt us.
Conclusion
Why do bad things happen to good people? That’s a question that is answered by the reality of the existence of good and evil.
God is good and everything He calls His own, including His people. The devil is evil and everything he does is bad and evil.
Good people are always in danger because the devil is evil and will always fight them. It is also an attempt to get good people into doing bad for sake of the persecutions they receive.
If you’re a good person who has received some level of evil or you’re still going through rough times from betrayals of people or other things, be encouraged. One thing we know for sure is that no matter how much evil good people or children of God face in this world, there is the hope of a better life with God for all eternity where no evil will plague the good people of God.
