God is Good

"Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"-Matthew 7:9-11 
God is Good, it's a plain and simple truth. I think we sometimes get confused about this when we confuse God's almighty power as almighty control. God does have all power, and he does have all control over the elements and creations, except those creations unto which he gave agency. One of the greatest examples of God's goodness is that he gave unto all of us the ability to choose, and because he is good he set rules, more commonly known as commandments, that would either lead to the expansion of our agency, or the restriction of it. To each of these commandments blessings and punishments our set.

When life is "unfair" or unpleasant, we shouldn't blame God. It is not his fault that others may have chosen to use their agency against us. None of us are free from the stain of hurting others and if God was to take away the agency of those that did wrong.... well none of us would have agency. And we would never learn.

If you struggle believing that God is good I challenge you to test the scripture above. Pray. Really truly and humbly pray and ask for that which you need, not for that which you want. Bread and fish were not fancy foods and are no representations of wants but needs. Likewise if you pray for what you truly need you will find that God will give it to you. And if you start to look for the blessings, you'll notice that he gives a lot more than you give him credit for.

Whom say ye that I am?

Matthew 16 tells us of a time where Christ was with his disciples and he asked them two questions. First he asked, "Whom do men say that I the son of Man am?" And they responded, with a few suggestions of the various beliefs about him. Then Christ asked "But whom say ye that I am?"

I don't really think that Christ really wanted to know what it was that others said about him. Rather it seems to me that his purpose in his first question was to draw the distinction between what the disciples had heard, and what the disciples believed. That's a distinction that we all need to find. We've all heard a lot about Christ. We've been told many things about who Christ is by others, but what do we actually believe?

This  isn't really the sort of question that can be answered off hand. It's the kind of question that requires some searching of the heart. It requires determining what of all the things we have heard and learned do we truly believe, and what is just opinion that we repeat. Such a search may bring to light beliefs that we are not entirely certain of. This will hopefully lead to more earnest study and prayer, and in the end and increase in faith.

Know ye what I have done to you?

I just love the questions that Christ asked, there is so much to learn from them. This week I've been thinking about John 13:12. After having washed the feet of the disciples, Jesus poses the question, "Know ye what I have done to you?" I imagine this question confused the disciples. Obviously he had just cleaned their feet, but they probably could not fathom as to why. Jesus went on to clarify exactly what he had done. He had given them a powerful example of the importance of serving others, especially those that might be considered lesser.

I wonder how we might respond if Jesus asked us, "Know ye what I have done to you?" Would we know? Would we simply respond with the superficial answers like, you died for me, you suffered for me? Or would we be able to really understand what it is that Christ has done to us and for us? It's important that we know what Christ has done for us personally, it is the only way to come to know him.