First off, let me say that I think people miss God’s heart when they walk around in a constant state of denigration towards man. We are made in His image; it’s kind of a big deal, and we should embrace that.

There’s no doubt in my mind that when God first made the universe, our galaxy, our solar system, our planet, and us, He could confidently call us “good” from top to bottom. However, in an ironic twist, when we took a bite from the fruit of the so-called “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, our very knowledge of good sent our goodness into what you might call recession.

Through redemption, we can be clothed in the perfect goodness of Christ. But even if we’ve never heard the name of Jesus or decided to follow Him, that receded goodness can be seen: when we make and keep promises, when we sacrifice our time and resources for others, and when we speak Truth, just to name a few examples.

There is more than just a modicum of potential goodness in every man, and we all live up to that potential differently. But what intrigues me most is the idea that when God looked on us “in the beginning” and when He looks on us now (with the cross or without), the goodness He sees is His own, and that’s the goodness I want to recognize.