God’s Good

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
James 1:17 NASB

I have talked before about God being good. Not just the type of good we think about when we have good weather, or we have good game or even when we have a good day. You see, all those examples vary from person to person depending on circumstances and our outlook or world view.

When I say, God is good, I mean that He sets the standard for good. So when the verse above tells us that ‘every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above’, it relates more to God’s definition of good and not what I consider good. I believe God is more concerned with the condition/attitude of our hearts than He is about our physical or emotional comfort. Let me say it this way…His ‘good’ for us means His desire or heart for us is to be made into the image of Jesus, His Son, who was an example to follow in living life as a person who sought to bring the elements and principles of God’s Kingdom to Earth.

I would submit to you (my firm belief) that Jesus Christ came down from Heaven to Earth as the perfect gift from God that would once and FOR ALL bridge that gap between God and His creation. Even though He was the perfect gift to us, He endured pain and heartache and rejection and did not run away from any of it. I don’t know anybody that would chose to allow themselves to be beaten for no reason, or nailed to a cross…But He did, and it was for MY GOOD. God’s good does not always feel happy and positive, but the ultimate outcome is going to be the Kingdom of God working in you with more of His eternal perspective. I have learned that God is not trying to make me temporarily happy. He is not trying to satisfy a momentary need with a temporary solution. He is trying to work in me a desire to conform to His will, because in that place only, can I find peace from striving after things that don’t matter, it is only in that place can the Kingdom of God find its way into my heart which allows me to live out of that expression of His love.

Let me explain…last year My wife and I got an unexpected tax bill, let’s say it was the largest we had ever faced. I was worried. It sent me for a loop. I did not have the money to pay this tax bill and would have to work out some way to pay it. I prayed and asked God “HOW do we pay this?” This conversation led to a discussion that we were not being the best stewards over our finances. We began to work on getting our finances in better order, and through that process, God began to open up an avenue that would allow us to pay this tax bill. Let me be clear, WE HAD TO PAY THE TAXES and it was not fun, it did not feel good. We thought about what all we could have done with that much money. What it did allow, was for us to look at our finances and get things in much better order to be better stewards of what God has given us. The process will still take several years to accomplish, but even a year later, we are in much better financial situation that before we received the tax bill. So we look back and can say the tax bill was God’s good, because it was the catalyst for change that we needed to put God first in our finances.

God takes what the enemy meant for evil and He turns it for our good, God’s good. Sometimes things happen in our life that is painful and we think there is no way God could turn this into something good. I promise you He can. A good that brings His perspective into your life and falls in line with the prayer Jesus taught us to pray…”Our Father who is in heaven…Thy Kindgom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”