Awesome, good

"I once preached a sermon in which I described a recent holiday as 'awesome'.  An earnest student came to me at the end. 'David, only God is awesome,' she said."

These words of David Bracewell in an early edition of "Daily Bread" set me thinking.  What is awesome?  How do we use this word?  Is it an attribute reserved to be used only for God the way "holy" is only reserved for God?  What do you think?  How do you use this word?

The passage reminds me of Jesus' response to the rich young ruler "why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone".  Jesus was not saying that He was not good.  Nor was He saying that "good" is an attribute of God that people cannot claim.  But He did make the point that God is good.  He also used that to point out to his audience that he (and we) are not good enough for eternal life, except that it be given to us by the grace of our good God.

Do you consider yourself to be good?  Do you think you are good enough to deserve eternal life?  Why or why not?  How good do you think is good enough?

What do you think about these attributes?  How do they relate to you?