Goodness
Good and evil are at opposite ends of the continuum.
God's goodness is synonymous with His God-ness.
Everything about God is good and His goodness is abundant.
His goodness is summed up in His generous grace.
When we sinned, we deserved to be stripped
of all that He had so gloriously designed for us.
We ignored His law and willed to disobey.
He could have cut us off.
God, in His omniscience, knew that we would do so,
and while saddened and disappointed by our choice,
He devised a plan for our salvation.
God is a just God. The sentence of sin is death.
We stand condemned before Him, a victim of our own choice.
We have been trapped in Satan’s snare, and our death is certain.
That is when Jesus, God’s Son, One unblemished by sin,
stepped in and volunteered to take upon Himself our sin
and suffer the wrath of God’s justice in our place.
And God’s love for us said “yes” to Jesus.
Our acceptance of God’s goodness,
Jesus’ death in exchange for ours,
provides us with the opportunity
for a restored relationship with God.
Justice was satisfied and, as recipients of God’s forgiveness,
we experience God’s profound goodness
in the peace that comes with freedom from guilt.
God’s goodness is strong yet gentle,
just but inviting in its appeal.
It cost God the sacrifice of His Son,
separation from a part of Himself,
for our benefit, that we can be the recipients of all that is His!
The cost to us is humility,
acknowledging our brokenness and need for forgiveness
provided by God’s great self-sacrificing heart
and the death of His Son.
And, it is this humble attitude,
awareness that we contributed nothing
to our own salvation,
that enables the fruit of goodness to grow in our own lives.
We see ourselves as conduits of His goodness,
blessed by His gracious generosity not to hoard,
but to open our hearts, our hands, and our homes to those in need.
God, you are good, and every good thing comes from You.
We are not the originators of any goodness.
We are simply recipients of Your goodness,
graciously and generously bestowed upon us,
so that we can open our hearts, hands, and homes to those
You choose to bless through us, Your humble servants.
Yes, we are soaking in Your goodness as a sponge,
so that when we are squeezed by others
we can release it, graciously and generously,
assured that there is always an abundance
available to assuage our emptiness.
By Twila Charles Leichty