But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

When Jesus heard it, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do.  Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.

There is a widespread mistaken belief that believers should be perfect. Although this is expected of believers in Jesus Christ. However feigning to have our lives in order, many of us wear happy faces and speak words that sound acceptable. At times we’re ashamed to admit our shortcomings as if they should not exist. Salvation through Jesus, on the other hand, doesn’t change the fact that sin is present in our life. When we receive the new birth, God forgives us and gives us His nature which in turn we are to appropriate. Yet our battle with sin continues till we arrive in heaven.

In fact, striving for perfection actually can be a trap that pulls us away from living a godly life. Functioning in this way is a form of relying on our own capability. Jesus said that He came to heal the spiritually sick because they recognized their weakness. With an awareness of our inadequacy comes the realization of our need for Him.

The world sees successful individuals as powerful and self-sufficient, but Jesus didn’t care about these qualities. Instead, He wants people to be aware of their own brokenness. This is the foundation for living godly.  We should accept our neediness and seek God passionately. Doing so allows the following attributes to develop: a hunger for God’s Word, faithful service, deepening our trust in God, and decision-making based upon principle rather than preference. Patiently and mercifully, God matures us as we grow in knowledge and wisdom.

Be careful not to cover up your sins in order to look like a “good Christian.” Without recognition and confession of our sinfulness (1 John 1:9), we are unable to rely fully on God. It is only with this awareness that we can passionately seek Him, obey in His strength, and confess with repentance when we have sinned.

– Psalm 103

God is good – this is no slogan, it is reality. The Cornerstone of all theology rests upon this truth without concession. It is the rock solid foundation from which all things pour forth and having an understanding of this reality, we know that all things work together for our good. Not only is God good, He is always good. Indeed, God is the very definition of good. His character and His word reveal it so. God is good…. Psalm 100:5. This is basis of God’s News as opposed to fake news.

The psalmist was a man of incredible insight above his peers that he could articulate so much of the Goodness of God. This was all because it was revealed to him exclusively by God. Similarly, while Peter and the other disciples were asked of Jesus regarding His identity while at Caesarea Philippi, none could answer except Peter. Jesus’ response to Peter’s answer was that it was given him by revelation and it had nothing to do with his intellectual capability. For that reason, it takes only revelation to know who God is and how good He is. The intellect of man as great as it is, is hardly capable of appreciating this depth, let alone comprehends it.

Earlier in the scriptures, this same psalmist was able to compose a song that came from the heart of God through eternity to him that made him pen “Oh taste and see that the LORD is good” Psalm 78:11. This disclosure opened him up to compile many songs of God’s goodness of what it meant to him and to thousands of generations yet unborn. No one could ever know God to be good except through revelation. The prophets foretold that in the last days, we would get a revelation of God’s goodness that would make the world to reverence God. So what does this say to us today.  It takes all that we are to really know and understand God and His ways. The spirit, soul, and body all have a role to play in this. With the spirit, a believer can respond to his Creator in ways beyond any other human can fathom because deep calls unto deep.  That is the realm of the spiritual. The soul, on the other hand, is the seat of our emotions where we answer to our environment as well as fellow humans.