What does God's Goodness mean to our lives? (Real Women Bible Study-Week 7)

As we read scriptures and think on the goodness of God,
do you find it hard to figure out just how that applies to your everyday life?

Here are some ways for us to look at the goodness of God in our own lives:

1)  The goodness of God is a character trait that applies to all other attributes.

God’s holiness is good. God’s wrath is good. God’s righteousness is good. He only desires good things for his children. All things work for his good.

We think of stories like Joseph and how evil it was for his brothers to sell him into slavery, but God brought it to good.

Rahab the harlot was living a life of sin, but God used her to save the two spies.

The goodness to God is an all encompassing part of his character and out of that goodness flows things like gifting and talents and just the innate desire to see his children flourish and be happy.

That being said…

2) Too many people think God is a genie and the minute you are saved, everything will be perfect. This is not the case.

 Yes...God wants good for his children, but the road to good is not always instant or fun.

 Romans 8:28 says: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

So many people try to ignore that last part: “are called according to his purpose for them.” (bold added)

There are too many “prosperity” messages out there that say God will bless you with earthly provision as a sign of his love and when those promises doled out by man aren’t fulfilled, people usually make the decision that either God doesn’t care or that their experience of salvation wasn’t real.

The same goes for healing. I was reading a story of a Christian professor who asked his students to pray. His wife was going into have some tests and all signs and symptoms so far pointed to cancer. When the reports came back that the issue was malignant, the class of course rejoiced and many said “God is Good!” The professor had to stop them and correct something. He said “yes..God is good, but if the test results had come out differently…God would have still been good.”

Which leads us to:

3) God’s goodness is not conditional.

Much like salvation, you can’t work to receive God’s goodness. It is an ingrained part of his god-hood that is yours from the moment of salvation. And also...the reverse is true.  Making a mistake does not remove you from the outpouring of his goodness.

4) The greatest evidence of God’s goodness lies in the Gospel message.

There’s a reason it’s called the “good news!”  For no other reason than God did not want to
be separated from his children, he chose to sacrifice his son for our GOOD. Again, there is that showing of how God turns things that from the outside we see as bad into something good.

One of our verses this week was Psalm 116:12-13: “What shall I return to the Lord for
all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” Salvation should be an automatic response once you catch hold of the goodness of God.

5) Viewing the world and God through a vision of “goodness,” can greatly change
our perspective.

There are so many times in our lives that it’s hard to see the goodness among the junk. It’s like an antique store. Something inside you tells you there is a treasure somewhere in amongst all the dust-laden pieces of broken junk. You just have to take the time to dig for it.

The opposite can also be true. Choosing not to view things through the vision of God’s goodness can greatly impact our choices in the negative.

Take Eve in the Garden of Eden. The minute she chose to let the serpent plant the seeds
of doubt that God was not acting in their best interest by telling them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that is when it became easier for her to disobey God and eat the fruit.

It is necessary to always view God’s commands, both those things allowed and disallowed through the filter of God’s goodness.

My church from long ago used to yell this out occassionally: The Pastor would yell "God is Good!" The church would yell back "All the time." Pastor "And all the time?" Congregation "God is Good!!"

The goodness of God is all vital part of your relationship with Christ. Take time to view the goodness he has already bestowed up you and to think about the amazing things he holds for your furture.

NOTE: I borrowed some of these ideas from this great article. If you want to know more about the goodness of God, check it out: http://bible.org/seriespage/goodness-god

Monday Morning Minute-April 25, 2011

The season of bunnies, jelly beans, and colorful plastic eggs is over. How much candy did you eat? :)

This past weekend I had the luxury of having all of Saturday to myself (if you're a mom, you understand why it's a luxury!) And it was on the day, tucked between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, that I pondered this idea most of the day: on this day 2,000 years ago, Jesus' mother, Mary, would have been mourning the death of her son.

Did you stop to thing about that on Saturday? If I were her, I would have been an emotional basket-case by this point. It is stated in three of the four gospels that she was there at the foot of the cross until Jesus passed (Luke stated simply that there were "women who followed Jesus watching from a distance.) In fact, in John, Jesus talks to her from his position on the cross and in the midst of all his pain in order to secure John as her benefactor.

Since I have never lost a child, I cannot even begin to imagine the depth of pain she was going through. However, I'm sure that in those moments of her deepest despair she questions God and His plan in all this, just as Christ did. The continuous question of "WHY?" would have plagued my mind over and over.

But...we have an advantage on Mary. We know the end of the story.

We know that on the third day he rose from the dead after spending three days battling death, hell and the grave so that our sins might be forgiven and we might have eternal life.

Can you imagine the joy she felt when the other Marys came pounding on the door that Sunday morning and relaying the story of the unconscious guards, the empty tomb and the angel?!?! There would have been a fresh flood of tears, but these would be of joy and not sorrow.

What about you? Is there a situation in your life that you are mourning? Could it be a relationship that seems dead or a wayward child? Are you mourning the loss of your health or the loss of financial stability?

You may be spending years in mourning, where Mary only had a few days of it, but her joy on the third day can be your joy.

Reconciliation and peace can and will be yours; just don't lose sight of the end of the story: Jesus wins. And with Christ, so can you.

Monday Morning Minute-April 18, 2011

I have a friend who, each day, sends out a mass text with a scripture for the day. Today's scripture was Colossians 3:12-14 and as I was reading the scripture in context (something we all should do!) I was pulled into reading all of Colossians 3:1-17, which in the New Living Translation is titled "Living the New Life." And one verse in particular stuck our to me today.

"In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us." Colossians 3:11

"Christ is all that matters...." Do you believe that? Is that the way you live your life?

I know the Bible gives us rules for living our life and somethings are translated or interpreted different by different people, but if we are honest with ourselves, we have to realize that no one on this earth has all of the answers. Our God is too big and vast to every fully understand everything he has for us and everything he has called us to do.

Yes...we all have differences, but according to Colossians 3:11, "Christ is all that matters."

I had a conversation recently with my sister that I can't help but feel illustrates this point so clearly. She works in a secular job and for a while was having a hard time reconciling parts of her belief with these new friendships she has forged with these great people.

And while they might have what some of us see as "sins" in their lives, she has come to realize that it is not her job to judge them for what they are doing "wrong" (or do the opposite and justify it with "we all have sins.") It is simply her job to show them Christ in a tangible form on a daily basis.

It's how we should live our life very day. Not judging someone on their "barbaric" tattoos. Or come down on them for being "slaves" to their sin. Or thinking "my religion interprets scripture better than your religion does." Or whatever else creates a wall between yourself and other followers of Christ.

"Christ is all that matters." Try living your life today with that mindset.

Monday Morning Minute, April 11, 2011

Putting the Puzzle Together

Think about high school or junior high. I don’t know about you but during those years, I lived through what felt like a constant showing of “One Life To Live” JR. There were constant verbal chick fights and volleys of “he said, she said.” Even thinking about it now is EXHAUSTING!  

There were the girls that I so desperately wanted to be friends with and for whatever reason, we just never clicked. And even now, ssoo many years later, I still feel like I am that struggling teenager, just trying to make friends. There are girls that I see often and I try my best to be friends with them, but we never seem to “click.” Know what I mean? Ever feel that way?

But today, while I was sitting in service, Pastor Benny (our lead pastor!) said something that really got me to thinking. He was talking on the subject of prayer and he said that we all should prayerfully consider who we take into being our closest friends because God has not called everyone to be within our inner circle.

HHHMMM….ever thought about that? Yes…we are called to be friendly with everyone, but not everyone is meant to be the one you run to when your world is falling apart.

Think about a puzzle. A thousand piece puzzle can be put together to make a beautiful whole, but not every piece is meant to interlock with each other. Some pieces are meant to join together to form the sky. Some are meant to form the ground, others this part or that part.

The whole picture is beautiful, because it is made of so many small parts that are CREATED to fit together, just like your life is beautiful because God has chosen a certain group of people that are meant to fit perfectly into it and make it more beautiful.

This week, spend some time praying about who God has called into your life to complete your picture. And…make their week…send them a note telling how much you appreciate them.