God is Not as Good as You Think He Is!

He’s way, way, above and beyond your wildest, craziest dreams and imaginings!

I could stop there.

Except, the history of the human race betrays a sad reality: we don’t really believe it. Adam didn’t, Israel didn’t and the Church (still) doesn’t. It’s what scripture calls unbelief. Yikes!

Truth be told, I still struggle, myself, to grasp just how good God actually is. I think we all do. The extent to which we worry about something, reveals the degreee of how much we actually trust God and believe in His Goodness towards us.

Our Church forefathers – subtly infiltrated by religion – have painted a picture of God for us. A picture that has become our entrusted family inheritance. With canvases, brushes and oils borrowed, mostly, from Greek pagan philosophy we behold a portrait of a distant, detached and despotic god. These lies, invaded church millenia ago. Forget, a Big Fat Greek Wedding, we live in a Big Fat Greek Religious System and are oblivious to how it has permeated and undermined the True Gospel: the only Gospel. Remember, it’s Good News..News that is Good?

Never worry, though, Father is determined we know, just how Good He truly is. Knowing about His Love and His Goodness is not the point. He desires you experience it. In unveiling His Goodness to you, in you and through you, He reveals Himself. When Moses asked God to show him His Glory, God caused His Goodness to pass by! His Goodness!!! God’s Goodness is so Glorious that He told Moses, “No man can see My face and live!” (Ex: 33:18- 34:7). I used to hear that as spoken by the dude in the oil painting as his condemning me. Now? From the heart of my loving Father. You?

I love what Graham Cooke says, concerning God having to hide His face from Moses: God’s Goodness is so brilliant that it would incinerate you on the spot! It’s the only way to go.

Let’s get incinerated by God’s Goodness…Who’s first?

Just as Love is defined by, and only found in, the Trinitarian romance, so too Joy, Peace, Kindness, Faithfulness and, yes, Goodness. This Goodness existed between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit before man was created in Their image and likeness. This is the Glory of God! A Glory that birthed creation…and you and me.

You were created out of a Love unimaginably wonderful, for a Love unimaginably wonderful. It was an expression of Love to give Love in all its fullness. Still is. It is this othercentredness, this selfless giving, that is Goodness, that is Grace.

In choosing to live an existence separate from God, we form structures and league tables of what constitutes good. And judge accordingly. We choose for ourselves, and others, what is good…um, remember the tree? Yeah, that one! It’s all about dos and don’ts, shoulds and shouldn’ts. Usually by good we mean, it is good because it benefits me or agrees with my perception of how things should be.

Really? God was Good even before He did anything recorded in Scripture. Therefore, He was Good before you did anything! And He’s still Good, for He does not change!! His Goodness, therefore, is not a reward nor a gift withheld. Have we missed it? I will go out on a limb here – way out. See it bend? I believe the greatest deficit in the Church, and in the world today, is that we do not know how Good God really, really is. The Glory, the Goodness that existed in the Trinity before creation was birthed, is that which brought it forth and in which it exists and in which we live and move and have our being!

When Moses saw God’s Glory pass by, he was in the cleft of a rock: a depiction of Jesus’ broken body. Such a beautiful picture of God’s goodness as revealed in Christ Jesus! And that’s exactly where He placed us!

Everything about Father is Good. In fact, when He created you, He said you were very Good to Him. You are His delight. You are His joy, the object of His affections. It’s all about you for Father. Always will be. He wants to lavish His Goodness upon you with such prodigious abandon, that you know Him as He truly is. We will share more on repentence in later posts, but for now remember, it’s His Goodness and only His Goodness that leads to our repentance. We don’t repent to receive some measure of His goodness, kindness or favour towards us. We believe His loving kindness and goodness and this births repentance. In other words, when it comes to sin, you don’t repent to receive forgiveness, you are forgiven! Knowing that, exeriencing that and seeing that as the Heart of God towards you, leads to a lifestyle of repentence…of changing your mind as to who God is! It’s astonishing! The Good News of the Gospel of Grace and of the finished work of the Cross offends some, but frees others.

I’ve learned a new word…ineffable. It means too wonderful and amazing to be descibed in words. Such is Father. Such is Jesus. Such is Holy Spirit. No matter how many superlatives we employ we will, completely and utterly, underestimate Father’s Goodness.

All of creation is Good and our enjoying His Goodness so delight’s His heart. Much like when you make a special meal for someone and all you want to see are clean plates, a big warm smile and a bit of an extended tum!

Next time you see a beautiful sunrise, it’s Father’s Goodness to you and for you. Enjoy having coffee with friends? God’s Goodness to you and through you. Love Jazz? It’s God’s Goodness. Enjoy a walk in the woods or on a beach? You got it! Facing a challenge? Rest in His Goodness and listen to Jazz, while sipping a coffee with friends on a beach.

See God’s Goodness in the small and you will begin to see it in your work, your family, your marriage, your church…your everyday life. It’s where you reside.

It’s all Good!

As He Is. Ger