What Good is Good?
I said I was going to start this blog to record my thoughts. I wanted to do that because I need to remember them and, God willing, I thought they might be useful to others. Lately, though, I haven’t been capturing them, so here goes. This is something I have meditated on numerous times, but have never written down:
No really, He is good. I am not sure if there was a time in the history of English when “good” was not a trivial word; what I do know though, is that the word “good” is not trivial at all.
The gospels record a man coming to Christ greeting him with “Good teacher!” Jesus responded, rather cryptically, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Now, to those who think this to be an acknowledgment by the Christ that he is not God, read the eighth chapter of John. Back to the point: only God is good. Really? Only God is good? I thought lots of things were good though?? No! Only God is good.
Meditate on that. Remember what goodness is. He is good. This is not a trivial word. Listen to David in Psalm 34: Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!
How long has it been since you have tasted the goodness of God? A week? Too long! A day? Too long! An hour?! TOO LONG. Never? Then taste and see that the Lord is good!
For those who know me well, you know what my darkest hour has been since coming to the faith. It was in that time of unspeakable pain that the spirit of God comforted me. With trembling lips I spoke what my heart was experiencing: Ohhh, He is good. He is good. Oh He is good!
If you do not know that He is good you will not trust in Him, but if you know that He is good then you will not be able to help but trust in Him. Please, taste and see. He is good.
Gloria – The Northern Conspiracy
April 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
My soul will make its boast in the Lord,
The humble will hear it and rejoice…
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
from Psalm 34
April 9th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Praise God! I truly believe that only God is a good being. None of us can be called good because we are filled with such evil. However, I wonder if there are good deeds? Good works?
1Peter 2:15 “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”
2Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
So maybe a human could not have the 100% essence of goodness…but could do good things?
April 9th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I totally agree. Those Scriptures clearly show us that in some sense we can do good, while the ones I mentioned also show us that in another sense only God is good.
Maybe we can reconcile those truths this way: When you see a brother doing good works what do you say? “Praise you brother! You are good!” NO! We say things like “Praise God! I can see God working through that man.”
In other words, the presence of good works (as far as we can tell, since we can not search the heart) is evidence of our good Gods presence. The reason that it is evidence is because of the very fact that only God is good and so if we see good works we know He must be the one at work in the person doing them. What do you think?
April 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I want to agree that the presence of good works equals the presence of God, but I don’t see Christians as the only ones doing ‘good works’. So, I can’t reconcile that idea quite yet. What should I think of a non-believer volunteering at a soup kitchen, loving children as a teacher or mentor, visiting the elderly, etc? I would then have to say that God is with them and working in them too?
I think the true way to reconcile good works is to agree that people are not 100% evil. There are many decent people in the world doing kind, loving and caring good works. However, we are not 100& good or righteous either. Therefore, we cannot be called ‘good’. Water that is 80% pure and 20% sewage would not be called ‘good’ water even though it contains a percentage of goodness and purity.
So like sewage water, we are not 100% pure and therefore not good or righteous in the sight of God. IN addition, we could never do enough good in our lives to make up for the evil parts because it is always there. Diluting the sewage with more pure water would not make it acceptable for someone to drink or ‘good’. However, God can come into our hearts and start cleaning up the sewage that is there. We are made pure and righteous in His eyes by the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and the sanctification (molding/shaping) by the Holy Spirit. God changes our hearts so that we may abound in good works as He works in us and through us.
August 16th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Hey. How can i have that song Gloria by The Northern Conspiracy?
I have been looking for it for long time.
I cant find it on marshill website.
any help from anyone would be appreciated
August 16th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
You can grab it at this link Vlad.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Thank you so much