“The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation.” (Psalm 145:9 NLT)
Have you or someone you know ever said something like: “I don’t know what I’ve done, but God must have it out for me. It doesn’t matter what I do it never seems to work out well for me.” I’ve felt that way when I was younger, trying to find my way. It seems it’s always easier to blame God than let the mirror of introspection reflect what’s really going on.
While God needs no defense, it frustrates me when I hear someone getting God confused with Santa Claus. Rick Warren addressed this when he wrote: “Many people think you only get good gifts from God if you are good. But that’s confusing God with Santa Claus! With Santa we say, ‘You better watch out, you better not cry . . . Santa Claus is comin’ to town.’ But that’s not how God works. He doesn’t keep a naughty list and a nice list when it comes to his blessings.”
“Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com” “Wildfire Sun”
In the context of teaching about loving our enemies, Jesus said in Matthew 5: “For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” It’s ironic to me that the people who complain the most about God not being “good” or “fair” are too often professing believers. I hear things like: “I was way more qualified than the guy who got the job.” Or “I can’t believe they passed me over for that promotion. I come in early and leave late every day. What do they want? Blood?”
My boss when I worked for AFLAC often said: “I don’t hire anyone unless they pass the D-I-L test. “Do I Like!” If I don’t like them, I don’t care how qualified they are, I won’t hire them.” He reasoned if they didn’t make a good impression on him, they likely wouldn’t come across well with the ones they needed to influence for the company.
If you think about it, the world teaches: “What goes around comes around.” It basically teaches we get what we deserve. The Hindus call it karma. Rick Warren writes: “It’s the belief that there is a cause and effect for everything you do. Good things happen to you because of the good things you’ve done in the past, and bad things happen to you because of the bad things you’ve done in the past. But God operates by grace, not karma. If you got what you deserved, then you wouldn’t even be here on Earth. If you got what you deserved, then you would have nothing. Did you deserve to be born? Do you deserve to be able to see colors and taste flavors? Do you deserve forgiveness? No. Those are gifts of God.”
Grace basically means we get what we don’t deserve from God and mercy means not getting what we do deserve. Think of the angel’s announcement of the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds: “’Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.’” Who first heard this great news? Shepherds, the lowest of the low in terms of social status. And who was it for? EVERYONE!
Let that sink in! Who is included in “everyone?” Every nationality, every ethnicity, every religion, every man, woman, and child who ever lived or ever will live. Why? Because God is good to everyone! Jesus illustrated this in innumerable ways from the woman “caught in the very act of adultery,” the Samaritan woman, and the woman with the issue of blood, to the man born blind and the man who laid by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. He hugged lepers and tax collectors and invited even those who hated Him to follow Him.
In my humble opinion God gets the wrap of not being good, not because He’s not good, but too often those of us who bear His holy name aren’t good to others.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 