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Tag Archives: discerning good and bad

God Is the Standard for Goodness

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by eisakouo in Luke, Our Spiritual Process

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being able to process good, belief system, Charles West quote, discerning good and bad, experiences and circumstances, foundations are shaking, James 1:17, Jesus, knowing our source, Luke 18:18, Matthew 19:16-17, only good comes from God, prayer, rich young ruler, spinach and chocolate, the good life

 

Foundations are shaking

 

Did Jesus really mean that no one is good but God alone?  I think He did. This means that no one, absolutely no one knows what is good, and conversely no one knows what is bad… outside the Lord telling them. Yet we hear people inform us of what is good and bad all the time.  People say, “So-in-so is bad and so-in-so is good. Why doesn’t God do something about ______ bad things and why doesn’t He do more _____ good things.”

If believers are not careful they will even fall prey to thinking and speaking like this. Eventually, not discerning good from bad will affect your belief system.

 

What if I told you that you personally don’t know good from bad, would you believe me?

 

 What Is Actually Good? 

How then do we determine what is “good” … and what isn’t “good”?  You probably already have a belief system in place to process goodness. The best way to know goodness is to use Jesus’ system.

 

And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” 17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”    Matthew 19:16-17

 

Jesus wanted this rich young ruler to teach Him the standard of good. The young seeker was like most people. He thought the good life consisted of good things, good circumstances, and good feelings. In other words… if it was good to him personally, then it was good. He had been earnestly keeping most of the Ten Commandments from his youth. Like most people I know, he thought by keeping these good commandments he was good enough for heaven.

According to Jesus – Good is defined by source (God) not by experience.  Follow my logic here. Anything that is good, comes from God because God is good. If it is not from God, then it isn’t good. If something isn’t good, then it didn’t come from God. It doesn’t matter how good it looks… how good it feels… how good it tastes …. if it doesn’t come from God, then it isn’t good.  Also, if it isn’t good, then it didn’t come from God.  Can you agree?

Most of us can look at these last statements and understand that this is how it ought to work. The Bible says, “God is good.” Jesus confirms God is good… Therefore, only good can come from Him. But, our experience and circumstances betray how we really process goodness.  This is how we really process goodness.

Spinach didn’t come from God but chocolate did. There will be no spinach in heaven. Spinach is a result of the fall of man. It is a part of the curse God placed upon the ground. As a result, people in hell will eat spinach and people in heaven will consume boat loads of chocolate.  How did I come to this conclusion?  I am being facetious of course, because I don’t like spinach. In fact, I might even be allergic to it. Conversely, I love chocolate… all chocolate. It is good. It tastes good and it feels good in my mouth. In fact, I love just about all things dipped in the stuff. The truth is (as much as I hate to admit it) spinach is good for you. It even provides a spiritual lesson for us today.

Here is the point: Good is not determined by experience, it is only discerned by discovering it’s source.  I may have had a bad experience with spinach, turnips, and cauliflower but that doesn’t determine whether they are good or bad. Goodness is determined by its Creator, not by any experience. In reality, chocolate tastes good all the time. Chocolate makes me feel good in limited quantities. In fact, chocolate has a soothing attribute about it which makes many people happy, happy, happy.  But a steady diet of only chocolate wouldn’t be good for me.  Why? Experience is not the gold standard for goodness.

Likewise, you can never determine whether what you are going through is either good or bad by how you feel or by what you are experiencing…. never!  If feelings, experience, and circumstances are your guides you will miss goodness every time.  The only way to know whether something is good or bad is by knowing who authored it.

Paul and Silas were in jail. Peter and John found themselves in jail too. By all objective assessments, jail was bad.  But no… they considered it good and rejoiced.  This explains why most believers simply collapse in trying circumstances… they are only looking for a chocolate experience.

This is why most believers do not know how, why, and what to pray for in difficult circumstances. They pray for “bad” things (chocolate) and neglect praying for God’s “good things” (spinach).   They never take time to discern something’s source.

 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

 

Every good thing has God as its source. God only produces that which is good. We might use it for a bad purpose (marijuana, cocaine, alcohol) … but goodness is determined by its source, not by experience.

Today, ask God if what you are going through is from Him. Stop attempting to discern your circumstances and problems. Our call as believers is to discern the Lord and the Lord’s will. Psychics and mediums strive to interpret circumstances. Believers seek the Lord. Only the Lord can teach us whether something is good or bad. He also knows how to take the bad in life and make something good out of it.  More on this next time.

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

 

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Is God Really Good? 

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by eisakouo in Luke, Our Spiritual Process

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bad things happen, basic lessons of life, calling God good, clearer picture of God, complaining, discerning good and bad, doubting the goodness of God, goodness of god, Jesus, Luke 18, only seeing bad, opinion of God, Plutarch quote, reality check, reason prayer fails, rich young ruler, suffering, thankful, tragedies

 

No Opinion of God

 

A young man tried to call Jesus “good” one day. We don’t know his motivations. Maybe he was flattering the Lord or maybe he honestly saw Jesus as being good. Jesus didn’t let the compliment sit. He corrected him. In all of Jewish history no rabbi was ever called “good“.  This title was reserved for God and God alone. In the English language “good” and “God” are interchangeable. It is the extra “o”.

Jesus wanted to know why the young man called Him “good.” Jesus has a way to get to the heart of any issue. I don’t think Jesus was denying His Deity… He simply wanted this young man to give further thought on what he just said. Have you ever called something “good”, but knew in the moment you were making an over-exaggeration? The noun good in modern vocabulary gets tossed around far too often. It really doesn’t mean much anymore. Jesus was basically saying, “If you want to call Me good, then you must be willing to call Me God. If you will not call Me God, then you can’t call Me good!”  In other words for Jesus, knowing God as being truly good was serious business. Jesus knew if a person knew God, they also knew good. If a person couldn’t discern good, it meant they didn’t know God.

 

In your estimation… has God always been good to you?  Are you willing to call Him good, right now, in all things?

 

The “goodness” of God is one of the first and basic lessons we learn.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t stick to us throughout our life.  We have to relearn this lesson time and time again… I know I have had to start over. Your first prayer over meals was probably something like this… “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.” Did you ever learn the chorus: “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me?”

We are told things like this as children and then the hard realities of life kick-in and we begin to wonder if God is really good. The Bible constantly reminds us of God’s goodness. But just because the scriptures speak of something often, doesn’t mean it seeps down into our innermost being.

Here is the point… Continually being able to discern God’s goodness can prove to be difficult for many people. Sometimes we don’t see, detect, or even discern the goodness of God in certain situations, especially when something bad happens to us personally.  When we experience a heartache, a tragedy or disappointment … it appears as though God isn’t so good. Why? Good is not happening to me!

  • If God is so good, then why do tragedies happen?  
  • If God is so good, then why did my dad die of cancer or my mom develop Alzheimer’s? 
  • If God is so good, then why is there so much suffering in the world, right now? 
  • If God is so good, then why do bad things happen to “good” people?  
  • In fact, why does bad even have to exist?

Let me say, it is easy to see bad. I can have a thousand good things happen to me in one day and only focus upon the one bad problem. As I type this blog, it is 77 degrees and feeling nice… but I know I haven’t thanked the Lord for any of the good things He has given me today. Part of our problem is we spend too much of time complaining about the bad things around us and never spend a nanosecond  thanking the Lord or rejoicing over the good we know He provides. If you are one of those people who can only discern the “bad” issues of life, you have larger issues which need addressing. True discernment detects both good and bad… and discerns the source.

I am going to discuss this more in my next blog but if you struggle with discerning the good and bad of life… maybe it is time to start over and get a clearer picture of God. You need an update! Your files have become corrupted. If the Bible is correct and God is indeed good, then no one can know true good without Him. He is our definition. He is our compass. He is our Northern Star. If we don’t know Him or understand Him, then we cannot truly know what is good. If we don’t really understand good, then we cannot detect bad either.  Sound crazy?  Stick with me because I believe this is one of the major reasons most believers don’t get immediate answers to their prayers…. they inwardly doubt the goodness of God.  Yeah, Yeah… they say God is good, they sing it, and they even speak and teach it. The problem is …. inwardly they doubt it!  In other words, they don’t believe in a good God.  Nothing will cause your prayer life to sink, stink, or come to a crashing halt like doubting the goodness of God.

Hey, you either pray to a good God or you don’t. It is this cut and dry. More next time.

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

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