So many TV shows and movies today revolve around a very interesting character: The “Good" Bad guy. He’s the guy who is downright awful and has caused incredible hurt to so many people. However, he attempts to redeem himself by using his horribleness for a good cause. If he is a serial killer, he harnesses his obsession to kill people who he believes deserve it. If he is a criminal, he uses his abilities to take down other criminals. If she is a witch, she uses her magic against seemingly worse witches. If he is a narcissist, he uses his self-absorption to put part of the spotlight on something good. I believe the reason that this stereotype is so prevalent is that each one of us deeply desires the ability to be evil and yet to not be condemned for it. We naturally lean toward darkness and we know that it is wrong, so we devise ways to convince ourselves and others that our darkness is really for the best. In the first part of his letter to the Roman church, the Apostle Paul wrote this about the very subject:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23 ESV).

Our actions may be more clandestine than those we see on TV, but we are still constantly in the tension of wanting to be good while being the bad guy. Later in his letter, Paul explains the tension in his own words:

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me (Romans 7:15-20 ESV).

Freedom from Being the Bad Guy

The great, liberating, terrifying truth is that we are incapable of doing good in any genuine fashion. To paraphrase Paul from the quote from Romans 1 above, we think we are being wise but instead we have become foolish, dark and evil. The “wisdom” that we naturally gravitate toward is really selfishness, pride, and all kinds of brokenness.

Thankfully, Jesus died for us so that this need not be the case. By dying for us as a substitute where he took on our sins and brokenness and transferred his goodness to us, Jesus has given us a way to become free from the cycle of sin, remorse, and attempted repayment to God. We can be free from the desire to be the “good” bad guy by accepting Jesus’ gift and holding tightly to it. We desire something more deeply than being the “good” bad guy: To be a genuinely redeemed person who becomes progressively less and less drawn to evil and more and more fulfilled by good.

Pray this with me today if you desire to become a genuinely good person: “God, I am heavily flawed and cannot even approach goodness on my own. I cannot do this without you and I need Jesus’ help do do anything truly right. Please help me to grasp onto this truth and run through each day with victory in my heart and freedom in my mind."