So Good

Our God is so outrageously good. 

If every single fiber of our being is not radiating with conviction and power of this statement, then there is no reason for us to profess Him as our God.  If we do not believe every single one of His promises, then we should not believe in any of them.  Because He says He is Good.  His saints say He is Good.  He says He works according to the Good of those who love Him!  He says that we are more than conquerors, which are no longer slaves to sin, but free in the love of Jesus.  He says that He has gone to prepare a place for us that is free from sorrow and pain.  He says that He loves us, that in our weakness, His strength is made perfect.  He promises that He will never leave nor forsake us.  He says that His perfection and justice are sooo good, that we must be sanctified and freed from the yoke of slavery in order to walk with Him.  Isn’t that JUST SO GOOD?!

But where is goodness?  We can see that our world is broken.  Tragedy and death and sickness run rampant through our cities, starvation and genocide and horrific disasters are raging in the world at this very moment.  How does God even fit into this reality?  How is He good?

Beloved, He came that we can be free.   Christ died to save us from death.  Death is separation from God.  Christ died so that we would not have be separated from the goodness of God. He died so that our sins could be erased, and that we could be pure forever.  Starting now.

 We do not have to live under the binds of this world.  Everything that brings sorrow and death into our lives, all of our struggles, all of our weaknesses, all of our trials and tribulations, God has granted us the grace to overcome.  Does this mean that our circumstances disappear?  Not necessarily.  But it DOES mean, that we won’t have to care about our circumstances because our hearts are so very full of grace and love that we have no choice but to rejoice in our sufferings!  We have no choice but to glorify the God who has freed us from what torments us within.

If God promises this, then, why do we not walk in his goodness?  If He is so outrageously good, and we TRULY believed it, our lives would be printed with peace all over them.  If His love is big enough to save us, then why do we fall back into the things that harm us?  Why do we allow the struggle to become bigger than the victory that has already been achieved?

We aren’t doing God any favors by ignoring His promises.  We aren’t doing ourselves any favors either.  One of the sickest lies of the enemy is that the Old Testament God is bad, and the New Testament God is Good.  What is that even about?  God is good, and God is the same.  His laws bring FREEDOM!  For what would we rather live for?  RIghteousness and joy or suffering and shame?

Everything that He commands He does so that we can preserve His perfect goodness.  Beloved, we just love to argue with Him, and tell Him that He is wrong.  We say that His commands are stifling, that they suck the fun out of life.  We say, “God You are being too judgmental by saying that I can’t look lustfully upon my brother, there is no grace in that.”  And then He cries and says, “Children don’t you know that I know your weaknesses?  Don’t you know that when you open a door to sin, waves of tragedy will sweep in?  How do you think prostitution, human trafficking, incest, rape, broken hearts, adultery, and cheating even came about?  Abide in my love, walk in my truth, set my word upon your hearts.”  Who are we to question God’s wisdom?  We know nothing about the centuries of the world.  We know nothing about the disasters that have swept humanity since the Fall.  In our pride and foolishness, we think we have the right to tell God what His love and grace should look like, and then by our actions and pursuit of worldliness we throw His goodness into the dirt.

He has such abundant grace.  His grace brings freedom now, for all people.  Grace is a lovely thought, but it is a beautiful reality.  Let us throw off everything that is hindering, and run the race of endurance.  Let us rejoice always and love fully.  Let us seek first the kingdom of God, and He will reveal just how wonderful He is.  As we decrease, He will increase.   To HIM be the power and the glory forever and ever.