Good morning!
Several years ago, on a Monday night as I was praying, these words came into my mind: “Love has a hard edge – that edge is God’s truth”
I was praying about relationships and living in this world with others, especially those who are not believers. For me I think the words I found myself mulling over relate to today’s attribute of God. Good. Our brokenness and humanness drives us to quantify and qualify words like love and good as being one hundred percent warm and fuzzy, soft edges with no sharp distinctions.
But what did Jesus Christ share about God’s character when it comes to His goodness?
For example love’s hard edge includes this idea – sin is still sin even when I love the person who is sinning - that is God’s truth. God is good and loves us and shares with us through Jesus (several times in the gospels) to go and sin no more – Jesus shares the hard edge of love. Your sins are forgiven (love), go and sin no more (love’s hard edge).
This seems to me to be a key part of our idea that God is good. He loves us in truth – His truth. There are really no blurred lines.
Questions that come to mind in addition to the thoughts above are - How often do I use that expression – God is good? What do I mean when I share this expression? What am I trying to communicate about God when I say this? How has God been good in my life – even when it didn’t seem like it?
Psalm 25:6-9 “Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
Comments: When we pray, it seems like we ought to acknowledge God’s Goodness on a regular basis. Thanking our Lord for His goodness seems to be the kind of gratitude that glorifies our Lord – whether we thank God privately or publicly. Here the writer of this Psalm is calls out this attribute of God directly. Of course God already knows he understands this but God also appreciates vocal and written proclamation of who He is…
Psalm 145:6-9 “They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”
Comments: God’s goodness is encapsulated in these expressions – awesome works, great deeds, abundant goodness. Then to underscore God goodness, the Psalmist shares something we come to understand (most of the time) as a believer – that God loves us all shared here as “the Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made”. This warms me to the core because it speaks to the breadth and depth of God’s goodness.
1 Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
Comments: As I read these verses, my mind goes to what it must have been like before the fall. At that time it would have been clear that Everything God created IS GOOD! I think sometimes in this fallen world it is easy to miss the Goodness of God in the gifts we receive in life and we forget sometimes to receive God’s blessings – God’s goodness with prayer and thanksgiving that is founded or sourced from God’s own word.
Other references on God’s goodness for you to contemplate:
Do a little research on the web or in your Bible. There is lot on this topic of God’s goodness.
Here I go back to the thought I started with: “Love has a hard edge – that edge is God’s truth”. I would contend that God’s Goodness might be embodied in this thought - love with a hard edge has dimension and depth and in the case of God’s goodness was, is and will always be expressed through eternity.
My prayer for each of us as we enter this weekend is that we celebrate the Goodness of God in all the ways it shows up in our lives, sharing back to God in prayer our gratitude for all His goodness including the goodness and hard edged love we experience in receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing and walking with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Patrick
Several years ago, on a Monday night as I was praying, these words came into my mind: “Love has a hard edge – that edge is God’s truth”
I was praying about relationships and living in this world with others, especially those who are not believers. For me I think the words I found myself mulling over relate to today’s attribute of God. Good. Our brokenness and humanness drives us to quantify and qualify words like love and good as being one hundred percent warm and fuzzy, soft edges with no sharp distinctions.
But what did Jesus Christ share about God’s character when it comes to His goodness?
For example love’s hard edge includes this idea – sin is still sin even when I love the person who is sinning - that is God’s truth. God is good and loves us and shares with us through Jesus (several times in the gospels) to go and sin no more – Jesus shares the hard edge of love. Your sins are forgiven (love), go and sin no more (love’s hard edge).
This seems to me to be a key part of our idea that God is good. He loves us in truth – His truth. There are really no blurred lines.
Questions that come to mind in addition to the thoughts above are - How often do I use that expression – God is good? What do I mean when I share this expression? What am I trying to communicate about God when I say this? How has God been good in my life – even when it didn’t seem like it?
- Good
- that which is morally right; righteousness (God is the only one holy, morally right and righteous)
- having the qualities required for a particular role (there is only one God)
- benefit or advantage to someone or something (God’s goodness is available and of benefit to - think everyone and everything)
Psalm 25:6-9 “Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
Comments: When we pray, it seems like we ought to acknowledge God’s Goodness on a regular basis. Thanking our Lord for His goodness seems to be the kind of gratitude that glorifies our Lord – whether we thank God privately or publicly. Here the writer of this Psalm is calls out this attribute of God directly. Of course God already knows he understands this but God also appreciates vocal and written proclamation of who He is…
Psalm 145:6-9 “They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”
Comments: God’s goodness is encapsulated in these expressions – awesome works, great deeds, abundant goodness. Then to underscore God goodness, the Psalmist shares something we come to understand (most of the time) as a believer – that God loves us all shared here as “the Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made”. This warms me to the core because it speaks to the breadth and depth of God’s goodness.
1 Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
Comments: As I read these verses, my mind goes to what it must have been like before the fall. At that time it would have been clear that Everything God created IS GOOD! I think sometimes in this fallen world it is easy to miss the Goodness of God in the gifts we receive in life and we forget sometimes to receive God’s blessings – God’s goodness with prayer and thanksgiving that is founded or sourced from God’s own word.
Other references on God’s goodness for you to contemplate:
Do a little research on the web or in your Bible. There is lot on this topic of God’s goodness.
Here I go back to the thought I started with: “Love has a hard edge – that edge is God’s truth”. I would contend that God’s Goodness might be embodied in this thought - love with a hard edge has dimension and depth and in the case of God’s goodness was, is and will always be expressed through eternity.
My prayer for each of us as we enter this weekend is that we celebrate the Goodness of God in all the ways it shows up in our lives, sharing back to God in prayer our gratitude for all His goodness including the goodness and hard edged love we experience in receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing and walking with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Patrick
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