Verse #7: God is Good

Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you.  Deuteronomy 6:18a (NIV2011)

If I had one message to communicate to any group of people it would be this: God is good. His ways are good. Following God is good. It is always good for us—over the long run—to follow God. It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life.

I say it often to the people I teach: God is good. His ways are good. It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life.

We are irrevocably hard-wired to do what we believe to be in our best interest. In the long run, we will do what we believe is best for us. We either come to believe that God is good and His ways are good, or we don’t follow God for long.

My life verse is Hebrews 11:6:  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  (NIV2011)

In order to draw near to God, we must do two things:

• Believe that God exists. This is the easy part. About 95% of people believe there is a God. How could anyone who has ever seen a butterfly believe that it got her by accident? Chance plus time just cannot create that kind of complexity and beauty.
• Believe that God is a rewarder. You can’t come to God unless you believe this. You must believe that you will be rewarded for coming to God. Otherwise, you won’t come to Him. We are irrevocably hard wired to do what we believe to be in our best interest. You must come to love the Christian life, or you will never come to live the Christian life.

There are many verses that speak to this. I’d encourage you to memorize many of them. Here are a few examples:

• Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5:16 (NIV2011)
• Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Deuteronomy 6:3 (NIV2011)
• He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. Deuteronomy 8:16 (NIV2011)
• And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?  Deuteronomy 10:12–13 (NIV2011)
• They will be my people, and I will be their God.  I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.  Jeremiah 32:38–39 (NIV2011)
• Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 1:2 (NIV2011)

This idea can be applied to everything you teach. Teach people to pray so that it will go well with them. Teach people to be loving so that it will go well with them. Teach people to be pure so that it will go well with them.

Many believe they ought to do good, but it is not good for them to do good. The good stuff is the devil’s fair. Ought to won’t get us to holiness. Many believe the should do this and that. They should, they know they should, but they don’t really want to. Why don’t they want to? Because they don’t think it is good for them.

Two questions I ask nearly every week:

• What good things will happen as we follow God in this area of obedience?
• What bad things will happen if we don’t follow God in this area of obedience?

Of course, there is more to it than this. There is more to Christian living than trying really hard to be good. We must have the power of the Holy Spirit. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We must come to believe that God is good. We must come to believe that it is always in our best interest to live the Christian life. We must come to love the Christian life, or we will never come to live the Christian life.

This theme is repeated throughout Scripture. Here is one more passage:

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.  Deuteronomy 11:26–28 (NIV2011)