Good, good Father

God is a good good father, and we are loved by God. It is who we are.

Here is a beautiful song by Chris Tomlin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBmwwwiHrOk

God's goodness is greater than any good that we can imagine.

Our Mighty God

The mighty goodness of God

“The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” Exodus 34:5-7 ESV a. Exodus 34:7 Or to the thousandth generation

I have been pondering the goodness of God, and I have discovered that there are many aspects to God’s goodness. I began my thinking by reading the scripture that I quoted above, because this is where God describes Himself. In Exodus 33, Moses is interceding for the nation of Israel, and Moses asks God to show His glory. God’s response is that Moses could not bear to see God’s glory and live to tell the story, so God allowed Moses to see His goodness and God allowed Moses to hear God’s name proclaimed from the very mouth of God Himself!

The scripture quoted above starts out by saying that the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for many generations and forgiving iniquity and sin. These are defining characteristic of the goodness of God, but not His only characteristics. He will by no means ignore the guilt that will visit generations of men.

This scripture stopped me in my tracks. Who can be forgiven, if this is what God says of Himself? My conclusion, although it may not be the right conclusion, is that God’s nature is to forgive, but He cannot ignore the guilt. This is why something had to be done about man’s guilt.

Man first sinned when Adam and Eve recognized their shame and nakedness. They were naked before this realization came upon them, and God had pronounced it good. However, after Adam and Eve acquired knowledge, they experienced the guilt and shame of nakedness. It was not necessarily the nakedness that needed to be covered, as much as it was the guilt that needed to be dealt with.

God said in the scripture quoted above that He would by no means ignore guilt, so something must be done about it. It is obvious that man can’t do anything to remove his guilt or to cover it up. The scripture above says that the guilt and shame will be visited on the generations of men, not because of what we do, but because who we are. We are people with knowledge, and we have the ability to recognize our own guilt, and that makes us unlike any other creature in creation.

Since God’s nature is unable to ignore guilt, His merciful and gracious nature created a way for us to be guilt free so that we can abide with God. God died in our place. He took our guilt upon Himself. He stood trial before Himself in our place, pronounced Himself guilty instead of pronouncing us guilty, and sent Himself to die on a cross. All we have to do is say that we accept the verdict. That is all we can do. This goodness of God is the essence of grace.

Before the Throne of God Above

This song has a wonderful message of grace. God looks upon Jesus, and He pardons me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoPyLcY6Zv4

Amazing grace--how sweet the sound

Amazing Grace Medley by David Wesley

The list of grace

Now, this is what the Lord says, the one who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect you. I call you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 (NET)

In the early 1980’s, a situation comedy, Night Court, aired on television. The leading character, Judge Harry Stone, was an unconventional judge who presided over a circuit court that was held at night. In the very first episode, Judge Stone described how he was appointed judge. It seems that on a Sunday evening, which was the last day that the mayor of New York was in office, he needed to appoint a judge. The mayor had a list of 1000 candidates, and he began calling each name on the list, but nobody answered. Finally, the mayor called the last name on the list, which was Harry Stone, and Harry answered the phone. It seems that the most unlikely candidate for judge won the appointment because he was home and answered the phone.

However, Harry makes a point that is worth thinking about. He said: “You know, my name was at the bottom of that list of prospective judges because I haven’t had much experience really. But, every candidate goes through a screening process, and whatever anybody thinks of that list, I was on it.”

The point is not that Harry was at the bottom of the list and answered the phone—the point is that Harry was on the list and answered the phone. He was qualified for the appointment, no matter how the appointment came about. This is a wonderful analogy for God’s saving grace. Christ died on the cross for all of us. We are all qualified to be on the list because God personally wrote all of our names on the list with the blood of His own son. God calls each of us by name—each and every one of us—to an eternal appointment, but it is up to us to answer the call.

Rooted in Christ

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:6-8 (NRSV)

The longer we do something, the more attached we become to that which we do. For example, it is easier to move into a new home if we have lived in our former home for only a year. If we have lived in our former home for 40 years, there is 40 years of living that must be dealt with. Not only are our belongings hard to part with, but our living in the home has created memories and emotions that are attached to the trappings of the home.

In the passage of scripture above, our lives must be attached to Christ by living each moment and each day in communion with Him. This is the way that we become rooted in Christ. Each small increment of faith and thanksgiving allows our roots in Christ to grow deeper and wider until the world has very little effect on us.

Our Christian walk takes time. In fact, it takes our whole lives. It is our walk that allows our roots to grow firmly in Christ, and each moment, each step and each memory helps us to build a lasting relationship with the Lord.