People around the world worship different gods. While I could name multitudes of gods, today I will tell you how good my God is and let you compare to see how good your god is.
The very nature of my God is good. In Psalms 145:8-9, we are taught that God is good to all. Some may not agree because of their situation, but they have not looked at His goodness from an eternal perspective. He is perfect and the creator. We are here by his design, not our own. The fact that He created us gives Him the authority over us. In verse 8, He is gracious to us; this means that He shows favor toward us that we do not deserve. Through His Son, we gain the riches of Heaven at His expense. He is also full of compassion towards us. He understands everything about us, especially our sinful nature that vaults itself against Him, yet He loves us enough to be kind and benevolent towards us. He is slow to execute anger against us. I have often said that His goodness is exponentially greater than ours could ever be. If I were God, I would not have given my son for those who desired their ways instead of mine. I would have wiped mankind off the face of the earth and started over. However, God in His goodness has another plan for our redemption. He gives His only Son to suffer and die for all who will believe. This act of redemption gives everyone the opportunity to be forgiven and inherit eternal life in Heaven. Now, that’s a good God!
Psalm 145:8-9 “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”
James writes in James 1:17 that every good gift is from above. It is from God; He is the author, and anything good on earth can be traced back to Him. On the opposite spectrum, all evil is from the devil. In John 8:44, Jesus is teaching this truth. He calls him a murderer and a liar. Virtually all evil is wrapped up in him from the beginning.
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
In Mark 19:18, a wealthy young ruler comes to Jesus seeking to know how he can have eternal life. He calls Jesus good, and Jesus asks him why he called him good. He tells him that only one is good, and that is God. Some commentators think that he was trying to flatter Jesus to gain information or approval. Jesus’ question is one he could not answer because the Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah; therefore, if God is the only good one, he would be admitting Jesus was God in the flesh. Little did this man know that his description of Jesus was 100% correct!
Mark 10:18 “And Jesus said unto him, Why call thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”
My God grants me the opportunity to have perfect eternal life. However, there are stipulations to having this eternal good life. We must repent of our sins and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Those who do this and live a life in obedience to Him will inherit this good and perfect gift of eternal life with Him. When we do this, we can experience and understand the goodness of God. The psalmist tells us in Psalm 34:8 to “taste and see the Lord is good.” He is encouraging us to experience God to see that He is good.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
In our world, we sometimes have a hard time understanding how good God is because our view of God is tainted by what the world calls good. We view the goodness of our deeds by another person. We compare ourselves to someone who is not a Christian and think we are good. If we are faithful to the church, we might think we are good because another person who claims to be a follower of Christ hardly dares to enter the door of a church. The problem with our comparison is that we are using the wrong standard. Our comparison is Jesus. When we measure our goodness against Him, we all fall very short of the mark of goodness. Yet when we look at God and all that He has done, we see that He truly is the only one qualified to be called good. He created everything, both Heaven and Earth. He created us in His image. He allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust and gives everyone the opportunity to have eternal life. He heals, He provides for our needs, He grants peace and comfort in times of trouble. He gives us joy in our souls that cannot be taken away by the troubles of this life. He and He alone can do all of these things and so much more. I cannot help but think of the song Count Your Many Blessings when I think of the goodness of God. It tells us to name them one by one. If we were to attempt to do that, we would never finish. That’s how good my God is! What about you? Is He your Savior and Redeemer? Only when you can answer yes to Him as your Lord will you understand how undeserving you are and how good He is.
