As touched on before, all of this is where we can begin to understand sin, because the issue is when we do not pay the cost to do what it truly takes for doing what is godly and righteous. When this is not the law before us, our ways are corrupted.

We know, from the conviction in our hearts, that we should regard the welfare of others the same as our own. We know that we answer to some law of what is good, but we don’t fully listen to the true standard of these things, nor do we make these things our first concern in life.

We expect good to be, perhaps, a byproduct in life, but we do not make these our first and foremost concern. In fact, we often believe that God, and presidents, government, and cops should be those who do what is right, but we do not equally concern ourselves with doing what is right.

And this is the beginning of the conviction of God upon mankind. That we are proven sinful because we do not make God and righteousness the first concern of our lives, we often don’t make these a real concern at all. We do not pay the cost for these, and do not bear the cross of what it truly takes for a real godliness and righteousness in our lives. We do not live by the law of God, but by the law of self.

This shows us that however we might see our ways, our ways cannot be good when we don’t even make our greatest concern in life that of doing true goodness. Goodness has to be chosen, put first as the guiding principle in our lives, and it has to be worked and done if we are to have real goodness in our lives.

The Lord summarizes this in teaching us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Mt 6:33) Because this is essential to purify the life and make it truly good. The neglect of this is not “benign”, it produces the opposite in us.

When we put off this work, whether as people who reject God outright or as a Christian, the life doing so will be the opposite of sanctified and pure, we just don’t see the true nature/spirit and outcome of our ways.