"The Lord Is Good"

"The Lord Is Good"

     

    When we consider or express the truth that the Lord is good, what do we mean?  More importantly, what does the Bible mean?

    Forever will not be long enough to answer the question.  As we frequently suggest, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ set forth upon an eternal journey into the wonder of God when we entered into relationship with Him by faith.  Glories await us in both this present life and in eternity that will continually unveil new aspects of our Lord's character, nature, and way.  Indeed, we've already seen that the Lord is good, sometimes to the degree of being overwhelmed.  However, the truth of the matter is that we've seen nothing yet as we will see.  Moreover, it will always be this way in both time and eternity.  God's goodness exists as an inexhaustible abundance, the awareness of which blesses us in the present moment, and then prepares us for new vistas of glory forevermore.

   "How great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!" (Zechariah 9:17).

   A strong case could be made that the beginning consideration of God's goodness involves the fact of His perfect unselfishness.  "Charity (love)… seeketh not her own" (I Corinthians 13:5).  Our Lord has never experienced a moment of egotistical self-centeredness.  Nor will He ever.  Everything He thinks, speaks, wills, and performs flows from the motivation of benefitting others.  He will not compromise the righteousness of His character in such devotion to others, but neither will He nor can He act selfishly.  We know this because during His earthly lifetime, the Lord Jesus perfectly revealed the nature of God - "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).  The same Lord also declared, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).  Our Savior never knew a selfish moment in more than three decades of life in a fallen world, all based upon the fact of there never being a selfish moment in the eternity of the everlasting God.  This is the essence of goodness, again, to a measure that boggles the mind now, and will forever leave us in amazed and enraptured wonder.  Here we begin.  Where we end, well, we will reach no final destination of a journey that leads into the measureless, boundless heart of God.

   The Lord is good.  He is, and we barely know what the words mean.  However, what we do know is enough to fill, thrill, and fulfill us.  It is also enough to effect ongoing change into the likeness of the God who would have us know His goodness as more than a Divine trait to be admired.  He would also have us experience His goodness through the indwelling Holy Spirit's revelation of Divine love in us.  Thereby we know that the Lord is good in perhaps the most amazing way of all, namely, He chooses not only to be good to us, but in us…

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us."

(Romans 5:5)

"I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."

(Philemon 1:5-6)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

(Galatians 5:16)