Journeys of a Former Firebrand

“You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:68, NASB 95)

Positively. What keeps a society whole and healthy? Negatively. What keeps society from burning to the ground.

Maybe there’s a better way of broaching the question:

What makes society good?

Some may say morality. Some may say deep thinking that leads to ethical formulas which in turn keep a society together. Still others may cite religious texts or volumes on psychology. Some may even claim government should set the standard for a good society.

So what really does keep society whole and healthy? What makes it good?

Not all societies have had psychology and yet we find healthy societies all throughout history. Some cultures find ways of adapting to difficulties and create a safe and moral society without any kind of deep-rooted ethical or philosophical discussion.

It is true that government keeps a society’s rougher nature at bay with laws. Yet, some governments, like Communist and Fascist forms, have brought heartache and misery to many.

It may come as a surprise to some, but Christianity isn’t the source of good either. It contains goodness. This much is true. It isn’t the source of goodness, and it isn’t what makes a society whole and healthy.

What keeps a society whole and health? What makes it good?

Perhaps these are the wrong questions to ask. But maybe even this isn’t the right way of looking at this issue. Maybe restating the question one more time will help:

Who keeps society whole and healthy? Who makes it good?

The answer is simple:

It’s God, of course.

God makes this claim throughout the Bible. God is good. That makes Him the author (or source) of all goodness in the universe. If a nation wants to find health and happiness, it must find God.

Let’s look at this idea from our text, Psalm 119:68.

Goodness only truly flows from God.

This is the core thought the psalmist is making: God is always good. First, it is part of His nature. This doesn’t simply mean God does good but that He IS good. God could no longer cease to be good than a rock could cease to be stone.

Goodness flows from God because goodness is an integral part of His wondrous Being.

The psalmist presents us with a second idea. Because God is good, that is, His very essence is goodness, then God will always do good. For God to do anything but good would run contrary to His very nature.

Because of this, God will always do what is good and right. He is the source of good because He IS good and always DOES good.

The application here is obvious:

Goodness comes about when obedience to the Source of goodness is applied.

When we obey God, we prove how good He really is. Let me demonstrate this.

It is unlikely that a parent who is compromising and hypocritical will raise children with strong moral values. That’s just how life is.

The old proverb is true:

“What parents do in moderation the children will do in excess.”

On the other hand, it seems this refers more to bad habits than good. At times very good parents may produce very bad children. Less often the reverse is true.

Why is this? It’s because children have a will of their own which they exercise. Simply put, sometimes children surprise their parents with their behavior.

It’s true, sin nature bends our will to do what is wrong. At the same time, everyone is accountable for their actions. That’s the reason why God gave parents in the first place. He knew children would need direction.

But let’s apply this directly to God. He’s a good parent, the best there ever was. He is a perfect parent. He’s never surprised by anything that happens. However, His children don’t always do what is right.

Why? Because sometimes He allows us to do things where we reap the consequences of our actions. If we are truly His, we will fly to Him in repentance.

All things considered, such a scenario should be the exception, not the rule. If it’s the rule, then we have greater problems than simply misbehaving. We need to find out why we are such rebellious children.

But what does this have to do with God as the source of goodness?

If we are children of God, we will naturally gravitate toward doing good. Why? Because God is our Father. We should want to emulate our Father. If we are truly His children, goodness will flow from God through us.

When we obey God, two things happen. We show who we belong to. We show that God being the only source of goodness in the universe is the real deal.

We become God’s instrument to show how gloriously good He is.

In other words, we should have at least one prayer on our lips. “Teach me Your statutes.” If we are His children, we should want to learn the ways of our Heavenly Father.

So What?

Let’s change the image a bit. God is the fire tanker. His goodness is the water inside the tanker. We are the firehose. God’s goodness flows from His own plentiful source through us into this world, sometimes even dowsing the fires of hell in this world.

The world realizes God’s goodness because He has left His people on this planet to point to Him. Christianity isn’t about God saving us through Jesus Christ. That would be a man-centered gospel message. The Bible doesn’t support that kind of idea.

God saved us so that He could bring glory to Himself. He saved us so that He could show His wonderful goodness through us.

Don’t get me wrong. Jesus came to this earth to save sinners. I get that. That is true. But God could have done that in so many other ways. Yet He sacrificed His own son so that sinners like us would be overwhelmed by God’s grace and love and share that message with others.

God sent Christ to bring glory to Himself by saving a gang full of pyromaniacs and turning them into firehoses of His goodness. The point is simple:

We must obey our God to show how good He really is.

This is how lives will be changed. Not just telling people about Jesus. It’s also about demonstrating God’s goodness through our obedience to Him.

It’s so important to show God’s goodness by obeying Him. Let’s be good children who represent their good Father. Let’s be firehoses of God’s goodness and brag about how good our God is. Let’s bring glory to our good God alone.