Being Good VS Becoming Good

Today I am feeling compelled to write about a topic, somewhat unrelated to politics, but definitely related to who I am, and who I want to become.  So I hope you will indulge me for a few moments here.  I am actually stealing this idea from a business mentor of mine, Mike Wilson.  I was listening to an educational CD by him yesterday, and it was so enlightening and thought provoking,  I just felt like I needed to share.

He said that there are two types of people, those who want to be good, and those want to become good.  He  said that the problem with a lot of people in our culture is that we want to be good, not that we want to become good.  At first I was really confused because I didn't see what the difference was.  I mean, wouldn't you rather just already be good, instead of having to become good?  All my life I have tried to be good.  Good grades.  Good reputation. etc.

The point that he made was that in the "Becoming good camp" they value the process, the learning, the struggle.  In the "Being good camp" the emphasis is always put on right now.  Who are you right now?  Little thought is put into the value of hard work.  It is all about the achievement.  He said that in the Chinese culture, for the most part they teach their children to become good.  Instead of rewarding them for making good grades, they reward them for studying hard and working towards a worthwhile goal.  It is the difference between going to school to learn, or going to school to achieve something.

I thought he was making a really valid point just from that standpoint.  But the more I let this idea permeate my brain, the more I realized that it is not just an academic or business idea, it is a way of life.  For a long time, especially in school, people put me on an academic pedestal.  I was an achiever, and there were expectations.  Once people believe that you are good at something, then, there is the pressure to always be that way.  There were loads of other things that I wasn't good at.  But I wanted to "be good", so I just didn't do them.  In other words, I spent most of my life just doing what I was naturally good at, so I could "be good", and missed out on, well, everything else!

Obviously, there were a few exceptions, but for the most part, anything I tried that I wasn't good at I quit, because, I wanted to be good, and I wasn't naturally good at them.  Today I began to think of this concept but in relation to who I am spiritually, and my walk with God.  In main stream America today I think Christians often think of the church, as a hotel, or a vacation from "the world", not a hospital for sinners.  And we don't talk about our problems so that we can share and strengthen each other.  We all try to act like we don't have any problems because we want to be good.  Thus, further perpetuating the illusion that we are good, and alienating others both inside, and outside of the church.  However, when we have the attitude that we are working daily to become good, we focus more upon working constantly to better ourselves, rather than hiding our flaws.  We are more approachable, and more relatable to our fellow Christians and others who may want to become good with us.

The more I thought about how becoming good was a way of life, the more I began to understand how important it is to know what camp you are currently in, and what camp you would like to be in.  For all aspects of your life.  At work do you think that you have to be perfect all the time or do you do your best and try to learn how to be better?  When you make a mistake do you try to cover it up lest you be subject to humiliation?  Or do you admit your shortcomings, learn from them, and move on?  I must say, I think I am ready to change camps.  Perhaps admitting that I have spent most of my life in the being good camp is a step in the right direction to joining the becoming good camp.

The older I get the more I realize that I know less than I thought I did.

"We're in the hand-basket my friends. Guess where we're headed." -Jay Anderson

Found by a friend: "If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand." - Dave Ramsey


Need I say more?  I had a dear friend tell me the other day that she was going to vote for President Obama and give him another 4 years because he is trying his best, and all these problems aren't his fault.  And I thought, what is this, social promotion?


So for the sake of this argument, lets just say, he actually is trying his best, and the problems we are facing aren't his fault.  (Although I believe he has certainly contributed, and certainly not done anything to improve the issues.)  Are we going to just sit here and let someone who is that bad at their job sit there and just try to figure it out, while the existence of our country is at stake?  If we were talking about a 4 year old learning to ride a bike without training wheels, that would be one thing.  But would you intentionally get on an airplane with a pilot who had never flown before and just be happy to be patient while he figured it out?  I sure wouldn't!  And that goes for all politicians here, on both sides, not just the president.  


It doesn't take a rocket scientist ( I actually know one of those by the way and he agrees with me.) to see that the proverbially family Dave Ramsey is talking about is headed for bankruptcy.  We would be naive to think that our country isn't headed in the same direction if we don't  have a serious course correction, right now!