Can I Be Good without God?

. . . he [the devil] is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

"Why did I do that?" "I can't believe I did something so terrible!" Have you ever said words like these after doing something wrong? Sometimes, even when we want to be good, we aren't.

God's faithful servant, Paul, asked himself the same kind of questions. In Romans chapter 7 he wrote, "I know that nothing good lives in me . . . I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out" (Romans 7:18). Paul said that many times he didn't do what he knew was right, and all too often he did do what he knew was wrong. He knew that he could not be good in his own strength.

Just like Paul, you cannot be good without God. There's good news. If you're a child of God, you have His Holy Spirit living inside of you. He can give you the power to do what's right and to stay away from what's wrong. Tell God that you know you need His power to be good. Ask Him to help you know what's right through His Holy Spirit. Obey His Spirit when it's time to make a choice between right and wrong.

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