There is a song that says, "You're not good,/You're not bad,/You're just nice." When I first heard this song, it struck a chord in my heart. Because many people have said of me, "Caitlyn is so nice!" It is a compliment. It really is. I want to be liked. But I realized something when they say this: I am a people pleaser. I want to be nice for attention and compliments from my friends, not because I am a genuinely good person.
God calls me to be holy as He is holy. He wants me to have qualities such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, and self-control. And I do not have any one of these because I'm just too nice. I am the resident yes-man. I'll support you, help you, encourage you, because I just want to be nice. Because, if I'm nice, you'll like me. And oh, how I want to be liked.
If I was really and truly good, not many people would really be partial to me. Miriam Webster defines good as being virtuous, right, commendable, kind, and benevolent. The righteous people I know, who are truly good, put me to shame. They are a mirror of virtuousness which, when I look at myself through them, all I see is my own hypocrisy and lies.
The nice person is the hypocrite who follows the rules so as not to get
in trouble, but not because they believe the rules are good. The nice
person is socially acceptable, but they are not benevolent. They are pleasing and agreeable. People like nice people since nice
people are not confrontational. They do not reflect to others a good
and wholesome example. Nice people will agree with you, so as not to be
argumentative. They will not inspire you to be a better person.
A good person will set a good example. They will show others how to live righteously. They will not only follow all the rules, but they will believe in truth and mercy and justice. Their lives will reflect their attitudes. A good person will confront badness and do their best to help others be good too. They will set an example of charity and kindness. They will teach other people to do well also.
One cannot be a good person on their own volition. God is the only One who is good, and it is He who changes the nice person and the bad person into a good one. He possesses the Fruit of the Spirit which He gives in abundance if you only come to Him. It is in Him and His power alone that a person can attain true goodness. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. God's word is true and pure, and it can change the hardest heart.
I must remember, if I want to be a good person, not a nice one, a righteous one, not a hypocrite, I must turn to God for guidance. Righteousness-not niceness-is given to those who believe in Jesus Christ. I cannot go on being nice. I must turn to God and ask Him for His goodness to flow through me.
