The Christian Goo-Goos

Do-gooders, goody two-shoes, goo-goos. Is this what the Bible is asking us to be in this epistle text?

Have you ever been called a "goody two-shoes?" It's usually not a compliment, given that it's usually a title reserved for someone who's so good as to be annoying to regular, imperfect people. But did you ever wonder where that expression comes from? Turns out it's from a 1765 children's book about a poor, orphan girl named Margery Meanwell (she means well, get it?) who walks around forlornly with only one shoe until a wealthy benefactor gives her a new pair of shoes, after which she runs around town knocking on doors and telling everyone she can find that she now has "two shoes." See? Annoying.

Of course there are other variations on being a goody two-shoes. You can be a "do-gooder," which conjures up images of the old cartoon Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right, or you can be a "goody-goody," which sounds like something that fell from an ice cream truck.

If you're a politician, however, you might be called a "goo-goo," which is short for "good government guy." While that latter phrase...