Good, Defined!

Thursday November 18, 2010

Today's Passage: Genesis 1
Memory Verse: Matthew 25:23

Morally excellent; virtuous, righteous; satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree; right.  These words serve as the definition for "Good".  Good people, good things, good taste, good day.  So many things can be described as good.  If something or someone is truly good, what or where does it come from?

The first ever thing that was called "good" came from God.  That thing was called light.  One of the many reasons God called light good was it became the substitute for something void, empty, and desolate.  It served a purpose.  Light instantly became something that yielded to God's use.  It obeyed Him.  It only wanted what God purposed for it.  It never sought to be something else.  It was virtuous, or good.  The next thing that was originally called good was the earth and the seas.   He made the earth and the seas so that the Heavens would have a reflection.  The light from the sun and stars lit up the dry land, and the stars glistened off the waters at night.  They didn't contend with each other.  They became a team of God's creation.  The earth didn't want to be the sea, nor did the sea want to be the earth.  The sea didn't get mad when God gave the earth grass.  And the grass didn't quit when the sea got its waves.  They were satisfactory in quality, quantity, and/or degree.  They were good. 

After calling the fish and fowl, beast and bird good.  And after establishing that it's good for day to rule over the night.  God made man.  Man is the ONLY thing God made in His own image.  The stars weren't, the beasts weren't, the birds weren't, nor the seas.  He made man to look, be, and act like Him.  Also, man was the only created thing to recieve His breath.  He gave man a capacity to be filled with Him.  No animal got that.  No star or mountain can boast that.  But with all that, He didn't call man "good".  The reason is, all the other created things immediately begin to fulfill their purpose after they were created.  Lights did what light does.  Water did what water does.  And animals did what animals do.  But man...Man has to CHOOSE his purpose.  To become good, man has to yield himself.  Man has to become what God wants him to be through obedience.  Therefore, when all other things got their endorsement upon creation, man will get his only upon "fulfillment".  Remember the parable about the talents?  The Master gave all the servants talents (purpose, direction, a mission), one servant buried his and the Master cursed him.  The other servant however, took his two talents and brought the Master four talents.  The Master responded to him saying "Well done GOOD and faithful servant....enter into the Master's joy".  You want to be good?  Fulfill God's purpose on your life.  Don't live being only concerned with your own well-being.  Being good is not what people think about you.  It's not even what you think about yourself.  Being good is a label that only comes from God when He sees His creation fulfilling its purpose.  I'm not saying you have to live saved and pass away to be good.  I'm saying to be good you have to be purpose-driven.  You have to be kingdom-minded.  Just think, when God saw light being light, He said "That's good".  When He saw the earth and the seas functioning as He designed, He said "That's good".  And when He sees you praying, praising, loving Him, obeying Him, and blessing your neighbor and the poor, He won't be able to help but say "Now he/she's good"!  Blessings....

Prayer:  Father every good gift comes from You.   So let me come from You.  I don't want my beginnings to lie anywhere else.  I am newly created by You.  Give me a passion for Your purpose.  Let me be what You created me to be.  I'm ready.  And when the enemy offers me the spoils of the world, give me the strength to tell him "Nah, I'm good!" In Jesus name. Amen.