Sometimes good isn't good enough.

     When I was a teenager I went to test for my drivers license.  You need to understand that I had been driving for several years already as most farm boys did in the Midwest.  I drove to the testing site and took the written test which I passed.  I went on the driving test and flunked.  I flunked!  I was devastated and shocked.  Returning home (yep, driving myself), I had to think long and hard about not doing good enough to pass the test for something I was already doing.  I waited a month (all the while driving because that's what you do on the farm) and retook the driving test and passed.  Now this may have been embarrassing but it wasn't.  It may have been hilarious but that wasn't the point either.  The event was a marked time in my life when my good wasn't good enough.  Ever have a time in your life like this?  You try and do your "best" and it's not good enough? 
     Jesus says there is no one "good."  He also says that no one can be good enough to enter Heaven.  Jesus said HIS "good enough" was necessary for us to be able to reach Heaven.  People are different though.  William James said, "We may have a God in Heaven who forgives us our sins but mankind does not."  People strive to be good enough.  When they can't be good enough they surround themselves with people slightly below their level of "not good enough."  They may be the salutatorian under the valedictorian.  They may be the girl who wasn't good enough for the cheer leading squad but is good enough to run errands for those who did.  The team manager may have been able to play but wasn't chosen as good enough for the team.  So and so received that promotion that I should have received if only I had been good enough.  The list of examples goes on and on.  In the end, it's our self image that is blown apart.
     When God created the world and all that was in it he rested and said that it was "good (enough)" and then rested.  His creation, man, made a decision that forever resigned himself to the "not good enough" category.  We've been fighting that curse ever since.  Try as we might, we will never be good enough to save ourselves.  We will never be good enough to exceed our expectations of ourselves.  We will never be able to be sin free for even one day.  We are on our own not good nor are we good enough.  That's why we need Christ who was good and good enough.  He satisfied the payment for the forgiveness we need for not being good enough. 
     As I take a quick inventory of my 62 years on earth, I am overwhelmed at my not good enough list.  Yet, there it is for all to see.  A simple google search or a read of my book will show that others are aware that I'm not good enough either.  So, how do we co-exist with each other if all of us are not good enough?  We can't make anyone good enough just as they cannot make us good enough.  Paul tells us that there was nothing good in him.  That's true about me as well.  Maybe about you too.  There is nothing good in me.  However, that's only part of the story.  As I stated above I returned and passed the test.  The fact is that there is something not only good but good enough in me.  It's not something I bought in the store; nor is it something I worked for.  What I have in me is Christ who is good enough.  He meets the standard and becomes my good enough forgiving all my failures that were not good enough. 
     I/we do good things, have good thoughts, and create good in our world.  What good is there in you?