On my first date with my husband, we sat in his bright blue Honda hatchback in the church parking lot and he asked me a question.
“What’s your favorite book of the Bible?”
His question was jarring since I’d been solely fixated on making sure the white eyelet babydoll-cut tunic top I’d worn for our date was hanging in the most flattering way possible. I hadn’t rehearsed a “favorite book of the Bible” speech, but I’d been a Christian-school-Baptist-church kid long enough to have an answer.
“James,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because it’s really clear and it tells me what to do.”
Somehow I found comfort in the clarity of James because I was still young enough to think I could be perfect, what with the book’s directives to consider suffering to be amazing, or the whole if you can’t control your tongue, your faith is false (James 1). I mean, I knew I’d messed up in the past, but with the start of a new day, I could start over at trying to be perfect, right? Or maybe even starting now—well, maybe not right-this-second now, but NOW, as in starting tomorrow. God would surely accept my goodness if it were fully and perfectly good starting tomorrow, right?
The words of James are holy and beautiful and true, but I was misunderstanding them because I was completely fixated on my goodness. I thought James was telling me to strive for joy in suffering and a perfectly controlled tongue and actions that perfectly lined up with every command in the Bible. I didn’t yet understand that having a relationship with Jesus would naturally produce the goodness James spoke about. I didn’t understand that the goodness I was to be pursuing was the goodness of God, fruit of the Holy Spirit, not the “goodness” of Scarlet.
Psalm 31 declares, “How great is your goodness”—meaning God’s goodness (Psalm 31:19). If we’re aiming to bear fruit and striving to be thought of as good for the sake of our own identity, not only are we doing it wrong, but we will never get it right. God is good. We are broken. Pursuing goodness in our own strength also means pursuing heartbreak, failure, hopelessness, and even idolatry.
But if we pursue joy in the Lord, if we look at His goodness and remember the ways He is good to us—His power over death and ability to forgive us, and His promise to love us unfailingly—we can be people marked by His fruit. Not fruit that says, “Come see how good I look in my white eyelet shirt and with my awesome knowledge of the book of James!” But fruit that whispers that I am “radiant with joy because of the LORD’S goodness” (Jeremiah 31:12).
Beauty, goodness, and joy pour out of us when, and only when, we are enraptured by and grateful for the goodness of the Lord. And in my limited experience, the more time I spend seeing and enjoying Him in the pages of the Bible, the more clearly I see that He is, just as our hearts hope, so very good.
I love that song so much and Evidence by Josh Baldwin. “I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life”.
God is good. We are broken. Loved this Scarlet. Thank you.
This reminded me of the movie that most of us probably have seen. The phrase: God is good all the time. And all the time God is good. I have found that no matter what comes my way, I need to always fix my eyes on Jesus because if I look to the left or to the right I’m going to get sidetracked and sometimes I do. But my eyes always come back to my Jesus because HE is good all the time!
I have had the privilege to do some mission trips to help at an orphanage in Kenya. One of the things I love is the daily worship before breakfast. After singing and prayers, the director who is known as Mama- says to the kids “ God is good- and then she pauses so they can answer “ All the times”. Then she says “ All the times” – and the kids answer “ God is good!” We would chuckle a little at the word “times”, but that is how I say it now, as I love the meaning. Imagine hearing a joyful and loud voice saying to you this morning “ God is good , all the times! and all the times, God is good! Maybe find a place to shout it in praise this morning. This is great truth for us. Loved reading all of your comments today as always.
God is good. That’s the secret of life. God is SO very good that He needed a place to put all His good, so He created everything good. The sun, moon and stars, the planets; all of nature; all animals known (and unknown) to mankind; all peoples were created by God in order to have a place to put all His goodness. But God (thanks, Tina!), in creating us as human, also created us as sinners in need of saving. God is so very good, so very filled with love, grace, blessings, peace, kindness, everything good, that He created us as sinners so HE could continue to shower US with forgiveness, love, grace, peace. We are an endless repository for God’s immense and endless goodness, not because we deserve it, but because (back to top) God is good.
Blessings to all, my SRT sisters!
Amen
“Beauty, goodness, and joy pour out of us when, and only when, we are enraptured by and grateful for the goodness of the Lord.” Oh, how I needed these words this morning! The Lord’s goodness extends so much further beyond our circumstances! Lindsay C, your comments about seeing your daughter choose to continue worrying rather than trusting you as a reflections of us choosing to worry rather than trust God resonated so deeply with me! I feel that when my kids still choose to fear or worry rather than know Mommy is with them…how much more do I give in to my own anxieties rather than trust His steadfast goodness?! This morning, I am actively choosing to lay down my worry, and to rest in His promised goodness. He has never let me down yet….why do I allow myself to believe He’d start now? Thank you, Lord, for Your goodness!
The joy of the lord is our strength . It is his goodness that we turn our eyes to. Look and see the lord is good. Our heart should be set on Him every morning. Set your heart in things above, God is so good because when we set our eyes and heart on Him we can follow Him and He has good things set before us to do and be blessed. But when we look below at the worries and start to doubt then we are like Peter getting out of the boat we begin to sink below the waters of our troubles. But His mercies are new every morning, so let us arise and seek His face and the things of this world will grow strangely done in the light of His glories and grace.
Exactly, to know that is not in what we do, it’s how good He is and has been with us. That really ministered to me.
Bianca, I love the analogy of our goodness being a teacup while God’s is an ocean. What a great reminder. He is the source of goodness.