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