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God is good

God gives us wonderful gifts, just like any father would do. If I ask for bread, will God give me a snake?

Jesus declared, “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19). First John 1:5 tells us that “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” To say that God is good means that God always acts in accordance to what is right, true, and good.

Goodness is part of God’s nature, and He cannot contradict His nature. Holiness and righteousness are part of God’s nature; He cannot do anything that is unholy or unrighteous. God is the standard of all that is good.

The fact that God is good means that He has no evil in Him, His intentions and motivations are always good, He always does what is right, and the outcome of His plan is always good. There is nothing unpleasant, evil, or dark in Him. The Bible teaches that God’s goodness extends from His nature to everything that He does. “The LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

  • James 1:17 — 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
  • Numbers 13:27 — 27 Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
  • Deuteronomy 8:7 — 7 “For the Master your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
  • Deuteronomy 26:11 — 11 and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Master your God has given you and your household.
  • Hebrews 9:11 — 11 But when the Messiah appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;

All God’s perfect qualities are made freely available to all for the benefit of the whole world. God is good. Jesus alerts us that God alone is good. God is good, kind, thoughtful, compassionate and loving. God so loved the world that He sent Jesus to die for us. God is good y’all.

Because God is good, God is in a good mood. It is a myth that the old testament (aka covenant) is all about an angry God. As James alerts us “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” God never varies from being good. At all. Ever!

Not only is God good and in a good mood. God does good. His actions are grounded in goodness. As King David says about God, “You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.” Jesus challenges me to understand the scope of God’s goodness. “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

But doesn’t the scripture talk about God getting angry? Yes it does. And it talks about Jesus getting angry. And it says it is ok if we get angry as long as we get over it quickly. Anger is not the opposite of goodness. God is good and he is always good. Anger is to be indignant and to grieve about someone. It is not the emotional outbursts of evil people. God is many things. They are not mutually exclusive. God is the God of “Yes / And”. God is good, God is jealous, God is love, and on and on it goes. No matter what, God is good and He is in a good mood. There is a huge difference between “God is good” and “getting angry”. God gets angry but God is not angry. One is a permanent state and the other is temporary.