ICS Daily Devotions
How Is God Good?
James 1:16-17 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
When something bad happens to us or those we know, we are often tempted to question the goodness of God. Some of us may even blame God and accuse Him as the source of our suffering, so how is God good?
God chose to send Jesus to be a propitiation for our sins while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), and God made Jesus who knew no sins to become sin for us on the cross of Calvary so that we can have His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). God made Jesus receive all the curse of the law upon Himself for us because none of us can fulfil the law due to the weakness of our flesh (Galatians 3:13). God sent Jesus to redeem us through His work of atonement and redemption, and through the shedding of His blood, we have forgiveness for our sins according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). Jesus’ death has brought about our peace with God (Romans 5:1) and caused us to be accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). God has taken the initiative to bless us with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
God doesn’t see us based on who we are but who we are in Christ, who is God’s Beloved and with whom the Father is well pleased. As we are hidden in Christ, God is also well pleased with us and He longs to fellowship with us. It is His love for us that ensures nothing will separate us from His love now or in the time to come (Romans 8). Because He has established an everlasting covenant with us through the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20), he has promised never to leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
There is nothing evil in heaven because God is just, holy and righteous. God has good thoughts, plans and purposes for each one of us—thoughts of peace and not of evil to give us a future and an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). He gives us good and perfect gifts and does not change like shifting shadows. Although we have done nothing to deserve this position of sonship, it is given to us by the abundance of God’s grace and His unmerited favour towards us. Finally, God has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and to have victory over the law of sin and death! As a partaker of His nature, we can escape the corruption of this world.
Everything that He did and still does for us is good! There is absolutely no darkness or evil in His thoughts and plans for us!
Sermon Series: Friends (Part 2) – Facing Test, Trials and Tribulation with Our Friends
