I don’t want to be a good man.

The world has lots of good people who are fair and courteous, eloquent and merciful. That is not what I want on my tombstone. “He was a great guy.”

The book of Jude talks about people who are clouds without rain. In their culture, in their climate, clouds without rain would be a very bad thing. To grow crops, to replenish their water supply, they needed rain. Clouds without rain brought false hope. They promised refreshment but left you empty.

That is what a Christian is like who does not live by the Spirit of God, who does not submit to the Lordship of Jesus the Messiah. When we talk about God but live like mere humans, we are clouds without rain.

No, I want no part of being good. I want to bring refreshment and hope to my broken, dying world. I want to bring promise that can be trusted, that will be fulfilled, to the cynic, to the fearful who have been burned so many times.

I will fail and disappoint as a good man. But maybe, just maybe, as a Godly man, I can serve my King with honor.