Cling to What is Good

Most of the time when I see church road signs, intended to be clever, I roll my eyes in disgust. But a while back I saw one that, refreshingly, made me think--made me ponder gospel truth, even.

The sign was a simple quotation of a Bible verse: “Cling to what is good – Romans 12:9.” Usually we bemoan the practice of taking verses out of context, of hacking the Bible to little bits (and rightfully so!). But I think it was precisely the fact that this verse was only quoted in part that made me notice it and think differently about it. I’m used to seeing it paired with the first half of its sentence: “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

It’s not that I want to disregard the admonition to “hate what is evil”; however, putting it aside for a moment helped me to focus on the rest of the instruction from Paul. Cling to what is good. As I drove by the sign, my mind immediately jumped to another Scripture: Jesus rebuking the rich young ruler. "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." And another: “there is no one who does good, not even one.”

I’ve always read Romans 12:9 as a discernment verse, instructing me to reject sinful things in the world and instead choose good things. Reading it with new eyes, I see that in another sense, there are no good things for me to cling to in this world. Only Jesus is good. And so ultimately this verse doesn’t just call me to exercise discernment; it calls me to hold onto Jesus, to cling to Him and fix my eyes on Him.