The Power of Good and Bad
(10 minute read; 1834 words)
The theme of The Attitude Rules is built around the words “good and bad.” They are adjectives used to indicate the direction your actions and reactions take you. But as a Christian, you might use these examples to represent good and bad: “It is Christ-like (representing good) or is it not” (bad) or “it pleases God and brings Him glory (representing good) or does it not? (bad).” For a Christian, this is just the better way to distinguish righteous and unrighteous thoughts, attitudes and actions. There are others as well.
The Rule: Thoughts, attitudes and the actions and reactions they cause, are either good or bad, but can’t be both at the same time and can’t be anything other than good or bad and whatever else represents good and bad…for example: positive or negative, optimistic or pessimistic, friendly or unfriendly, happy or unhappy, enthusiastic or apathetic, respectful or disrespectful, Christ-like or not, and many, many more.
(We’ll take a more detailed look at the Attitude Meter and various other monitors in Rule #8; Changing Actions and Reactions.
Note that there is no point between good (green) and bad (red), just good or bad.)
Thoughts, attitudes and the actions and reactions they produce (cause) can’t be anything other than good or bad.
In other words, there is no gray area between good and bad to either hide in or to deceive yourself with— just good and bad. A gray area is an attempt to say that there is something between good and bad which is neither good or bad. If it’s good, then it can’t be bad and if it’s bad, then it can’t be good. You must choose a side, just like Adam and Eve did with the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil“ in the garden, and just like them, you only have two choices to make; ultimately good or bad.
The choice was clearly defined to Adam, who share it with Eve—either obey God or disobey Him. There was no gray area. One was good (to obey; righteous) and the other was bad (to disobey; unrighteous). They disobeyed. Bad choice. Bad for them… and bad for the rest of us.
“And the Lord God commanded the man (even before Eve was created), saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die‘” (from Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV). And they immediately died a spiritual death with physical death becoming inevitable, but not instantaneous; just like us. It was a commandment to them from the one true, sovereign, living, Creator God, not a suggestion.
They both disobeyed God, they sinned, they fell short of His perfect standard of righteousness (but it was Adam bore complete responsibility for it) and it didn’t work out very well for the rest of the human race either, because we too “shall surely die” one day because of sin… actually, for rejecting Christ and refusing His grace. Thanks a lot Adam. But the “Good News” is that God already had a plan for the redemption of man through His Son Jesus Christ, even before the foundation of the world.
So good or bad (evil) has existed since the beginning of time and will continue to exist until the end of time and eventually there will be nothing but good (holiness) and bad (evil, sin) will not exist at all, for eternity… that is, if you go to heaven.
Thank you Lord Jesus!
The Definition of Good
Good means helpful, constructive and productive. It’s morally excellent. It’s positive and desirable in nature. Good is a virtue, the perfect nature of God and “goodness” is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; one of the characteristics of Jesus, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).” It is also one of the seven qualities of the born again believer; “be diligent and to your faith add these things: goodness, knowledge, self-control, patience, Godliness, kindness and love (2 Peter 1:5).” All good fruit.
In fact, goodness only exists because there is one true, sovereign, living, Creator God as the moral authority in the world He created. He gets to make the rules and sets the standards. God is the standard. He is perfectly good and you and I are not. He does not have to choose between good and bad because He is good all the time, the standard of perfection, the standard of His glory that we all fall short of every day. Man and woman, on the other hand, are not perfectly good. No, not one. We can certainly “do good,” and maybe a lot of good, but we are not perfectly good… not yet (coming glorification). There could be no bad if there was no good and there could be no good if there was no God. We would not know that something was bad if there was not good to compare it with. If not for good, bad would just be a choice, an opinion; neither right nor wrong.
Good and bad are two completely different things, going in two completely different directions and producing two completely different results. Thoughts, attitudes, actions and reactions (as well as character, identity, the roles you play in life and the quality of life your live each day) are all either good or bad, this way or that way, one way or the other and there is no other option in between to choose from.
Don’t fool yourself. We all know the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate. The law is written in our hearts so we can distinguish the difference and our conscience bears witness to the choice (Romans 2:15). Sometimes our conscience tells us that what we’re doing is bad (accusing us), and sometimes our it tells us that what we’re doing is good (defending us, confirming it). But… we all know the difference. So, don’t deceive yourself.
Good is always good and bad is always bad and good can never be bad and bad can never be good, no matter how good “bad” might seem at the time. Good and bad never intersect. They repel each other like two magnets.
“Good thoughts and attitudes can never cause bad results and bad thoughts and attitudes can never cause good results.” This is the law of causality; cause-and-effect. (adapted from James Allen, As a Man Thinketh; emphasis added)
There are degrees of good and bad…excellent, great, etc. (good) – terrible, awful, etc. (bad), for example, but even the “worst good” is still good and the “best bad” is still bad. If something is “not very good,” it is still good and if it is “not so bad,” it is still bad.
Sometimes there is a fine line between good and bad. But good goes in one direction and bad in the opposite. But you can’t straddle the line and be both at the same time. If you hang around too close to the shoreline, you just might slip in. Don’t risk it. It’s not worth it. This is your life. You only have one. Avoid the worst good and best bad. Clearly define which side you’re on.
Let “good” and all the words that represent good be your “default factory setting,” the way your attitudes and character have intentionally been designed by you and constantly evaluate and adjust your behavior and “reset to default” as often as needed.
Positive (+ ‘the plus’ sign; adds to) is good, optimistic is good, friendly is good, happy is good, enthusiastic is good, respectful is good, unselfish is good, and the list goes on and on.
Negative (- ‘the minus’ sign; subtracts from) is bad, pessimistic is bad, unfriendly is bad, unhappy is bad, apathetic is bad, disrespectful is bad, selfish is bad, etc.
But “good” is also Christ-like, right, moral, appropriate, pleases God and gives Him glory, caring, motivated, cheerful, compassionate, confident, determined, grateful and many, many more. (Note how all these examples represent “good”).
Good helps. Bad hurts. Good produces benefits and bad produces consequences. Good represents the blessings and bad represents the curses. Good represents righteousness (doing right) and bad represents unrighteousness (doing wrong), biblically speaking.
Here is an illustration of the unlimited power of good and bad attitudes:
- A good attitude can make the good things in your life seem like they’re so good they couldn’t possibly be any better.
- A bad attitude can make the bad things seem like they’re so bad they couldn’t possibly be any worse.
- A bad attitude can even make those good things seem like they’re not as good as you thought they were.
- But a good attitude can make the bad things seem like they’re not so bad after all.
Bad attitudes make both bad things and good things seem worse. Good attitudes make both good things and bad things seem better. And better is better than bad every single time.
Your mindset, the way you choose to think, shapes your perception. A good attitude amplifies the positive and softens the negative and brings happiness, while a bad one can dim even the brightest moments and brings disappointment. It’s like choosing the lens through which you view life’s ups and downs. That’s the power of mindset; thoughts and attitudes.
That’s the Power of Attitude!
Whatever choice you make, makes you. That choice shapes and defines the content of your character which reveals the person you really are… your true identity and how you act and react in the situations, circumstances, triumphs, defeats, trials and tribulations of life. You will have them all. Not if, but when.
So it’s a must for you to always make “good” choices and wise decisions in how you think, what you say, how you say it and what you do… and what you won’t think, say and do and if you’re a born again believer, the Holy Spirit will help you do this.
Notable Thoughts about Good and Bad
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” – John Wesley
“A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results… good or bad, on the character and circumstances.” – James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
Memorize and Use This Rule:
Rule #2 – Your thoughts, attitudes and the actions and reactions they produce are either good or bad, but can’t be both at the same time and can’t be anything other than good or bad and anything else which represents good and bad.
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