Good Person or Bad Person?
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.”
(Mark 10:17-18)
As the Director of Spiritual Care in a retirement community I have the opportunity to learn from our residents. It is truly an honor for me to accompany our seniors in this part of their lives and God has used them to teach me much through the years.
Currently, one of things that God is teaching me through our residents is that there really are not “good” or “bad” people. Many times we hear people talk about others as being “good” or “bad.” However, I’m learning that there are just people - people who are caught in difficulties and are trying to make the best of their situation.
For example, many of our residents have dementia. Often, a person with the dementia illness goes back in time and unlearns things in the same pattern she or he learned them growing from a child to an adult. Last year, one of our residents with dementia had lost the ability to verbally express himself. He would sometimes resort to hitting or even biting, occasionally, because he couldn’t say what he wanted or needed in words. Was this resident a bad person? Absolutely not – he was just caught in a difficult situation and trying to communicate.
I am beginning to realize that, in one way or another, this is true for all of us. All of us sin and make mistakes. In addition, there are people who are wounded from childhood abuse and carry these wounds into adulthood. (One in four women and one in six men have been sexually abused.) There are people who are under tremendous stress and feel overwhelmed, perhaps with health issues or family problems. All of this impacts how we behave in particular situations and circumstances. The bottom line is that we are all trying to make the best of whatever situation in which we find ourselves.
As humans we have a tendency to think in terms of people being good or bad. The truth is we have a mix in of both in all of us all the time. As Christians, it may be more helpful to think of people in terms of each one being made in God’s image and loved by God. The result of this is that we will have compassion for others. This transformed view of others will empower us to talk about and to show God’s Good News to those around us.
Prayer: Lord, help me overcome the tendency to label others as good or bad, but to think of all of God’s people as being made in His image.
Kathy Bird-deYoung
Chaplain
Mt. Vista Retirement
Community
Wheat Ridge, CO
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