Tuesday, January 22, 2019

"The Gallery of Goodness"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…



"The Gallery of Goodness"




     Imagine a world without color.  Or without music.  Or flavor.  Or texture.  Or fragrance.  Or beauty of any variety or measure.  The contemplation is difficult because we live in a creation that teems with wonder, and with senses able to perceive it.
    "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us" (Psalm 90:17).

    The beauty of creation and our capacity to experience it reveals the heart of God.  Such gracious bestowal elicits utter amazement upon even a cursory contemplation and appreciation.  The art, the art of His heart, calls us into infinitely vast reaches of our Lord's sublime character.  One of the shortest sentences in Scripture, repeated seven times, speaks of this glory: "the Lord is good."  It takes no more than a second to utter these four words.  Eternity, however, will not suffice in complete discovery of all they mean.  God's heart is a gallery of goodness and beauty into which believers have entered, and through which we will journey forever.  "Oh how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee!" (Psalm 31:19).

    The Gallery of goodness offers displays of God's perfectly unselfish character and nature.  "God is love… Love seekth not her own" (I John 4:8; I Corinthians 13:5).  From everlasting to everlasting, our Lord will never think, speak, or act selfishly.  In the triunity of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate in perfectly unselfish devotion to One another.  The same character governs His relationship to creation, and especially His actions toward human beings originally created in the image of God.  He cannot be other than who He is in the glory of selfless devotion to others.  Even when executing wrath, our Heavenly Father unselfishly acts in the best interest of His creation, working to preserve its sanctity regarding anything or anyone who might threaten the well being of the universe.  Selfishness would lead Him to act otherwise, perhaps by overlooking sin and wrong.  "He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men  I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Lamentations 3:33; Ezekiel 33:11).  Loving unselfishness, however, wields the rod and unsheathes the sword as necessary.  Thus, even in judgment and chastening, the goodness of God shines forth in glory.

   The Gallery of goodness offers its glories to be known in this day and forevermore.  We will never approach an exit to the Gallery.  There is none.  God's loving unselfishness promises wonders of love to be discovered and admired forevermore.  Let us be thrilled by the prospect, and enthralled by the goodness we presently see as we walk with God through Christ in the realization that the beauty of the Lord is indeed upon us.

"The Lord is good to all, and His tendermercies are over all His works."
(Psalm 145:9)

Weekly Memory Verse
  But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, o God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom."
(Hebrews 1:8)


  













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