Do You Believe There Is Good In Everyone?

“Do you believe there is good in everyone?”

I’ve noticed that a few times in the past couple months, this question has come up. And then I had someone ask me on my Youtube account the same question. So I have sought to answer that question. It’s a tough question for me. It’s one of those questions that I could easily brush off because I couldn’t immediately answer it. And I have, until now. After I got asked this question again, my mind and my heart continued to wrestle with it. So I had to find a biblical answer.

Paul tells us that we need to be prepared to give an answer for what we believe. And how can we give an answer, a solid biblical answer, if we don’t know what God has said? So, I went straight to the source that would help me answer this question.

Here’s what I found:

I decided to ask a slightly different question: “Do humans have the ability to do good things, to be good?”

Yes.

We are made in the image of God… all people, not just Christians (Genesis 1:27). And in that, we often see God’s goodness reflected in human character. But! Without faith in Jesus Christ, that “good” that people do and have are done out of self-motivation rather than to give glory to God (Romans 3:11). Unless we place our faith in Christ, that goodness is for self and not for God.

God is perfectly good, morally perfect. We are not. Our good works/actions and the goodness in us are stained by our sin, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The goodness and our ability to do good things will not achieve rightness with God since we are still living in sin and not living for God. Our good works and good actions do not earn us salvation.

It’s when we place our faith in Christ that our good actions are truly good, because they are no longer for ourselves, but for God; they are no longer a means to an end, but a result of our faith and of our understanding that we need salvation from our sins – only through Christ is that possible. Our good works/actions do not justify ourselves, but rather, we are justified through grace by faith in Jesus Christ.

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Friends, when you are faced with a biblical question that you’re not sure how to answer, I encourage you to go to God’s Word to find an answer. But, I want you to also be okay with the possibility that you won’t find an answer. God doesn’t give us insight into everything. And in this, we have to trust Him on the things that go beyond our understanding. However, it’s NEVER a bad thing to study scripture in an attempt to find an answer or to try to understand.

If this has been a question you’ve been wrestling with, I hope this answer makes sense to you. If you have any other questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below! I’d love to help you out:)