Be Good
While walking the mall after Christmas, I came upon the place where the children had been going to have their pictures taken with Santa Claus. It was all closed up and these words were printed on a sign, hanging on Santa’s chair: “Santa has gone back home to the North Pole. He will see you next Christmas. Be good!”
Just two words, short and to the point. How simple, how refreshing, how uncomplicated: “Be good.” We are living in a time of changing morality. For every lifestyle issue, there are hundreds of differing points of view. There is a continual debate going on about the rightness and the wrongness of everything we do. We come away thinking, “Wow! It’s hard to know what is right and to do the right thing.”
Perhaps it’s as simple as Santa’s sign, “Be Good.” A point of view, right to the point. Now I am sure the philosophers among us will raise the question, “How is good defined?” In an attempt to keep this discussion uncomplicated, I would respond by saying “Most people know.” But for those who still want to know, I would bring to your attention the perfect example, the person who knows what it means to “Be good” — Jesus Christ.
CONSIDER how the apostle Peter described this best when he said of our Lord, “He went about doing good.” It’s that simple. May we all go and do likewise.
“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
Rev. Wendell Mettey
November 7, 1992
Revised May 13, 2013
