Coffeehouse: Why is it so important that we feel are "basically good"?

The root of this and a whole lot of sins is pride. And that's the root of the whole works-based salvation view point. The world thinks they can be good enough to get to heaven. As you mentioned in the podcast, if we compare ourselves to each other we deduce that we are "basically good." For one thing you can always find someone doing worse things than you, and for another our own faults never look as bad as other people's faults. If we compare ourselves to God's standard we realize that we fall FAR short -- totally miss the target -- and cannot do anything without Christ.

I get the feeling that our lack of goodness may be hard for many to face because they assume it equates to a lack of value. Granted, some translations of the material Paul quoted in Romans this week use the word "worthless" in describing what humanity has become, though the NASB more accurately translates it to "useless".

I assume it is because we bear the image of God in some sense, but whatever the reason, we have enormous worth based solely on the fact that God became a man and died for us!

This is certainly my malfunction. I've grown up equating my performance to my worth and still struggle with seeing me the way God does.

That's a really good point, man. Thanks for that angle!