Living with Tozer's God

Blogpost #31

Chapter 15: The Goodness of God

"Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness." Billy Graham

Why would Dr. Graham make such a statement? Is it possible that he doesn't believe in the inherent goodness of mankind? Is it possible that he doesn't believe in the universal assumption that all men claim, namely, that "basically I'm a good person"?

In a word, that answer is NO! He doesn't believe it. How do we know? Because the most fundamental teaching of the Bible is that men are not good, they are evil, outlaws, and rebels against a holy God. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," that's why Christ had to die on the cross. Those sins have consequences.

Does that mean that no person ever does anything good? Not at all. We all know bad people who have done something good. Why do they do it? Often, it's because they want to feel better about themselves. In other words, they feel the guilt from their sins, so they want to do something they think will atone for them; this way they feel better about themselves. It only works for a while. In their hearts, they know the truth. They feel guilty because they are guilty. So are we.

But, we desperately want to believe we are good. Coming to grips with the reality that we are not is very, very difficult. In fact, it may be impossible without God opening our eyes to the truth that this is His testimony of us, "there is none righteous, not one." Once we accept this difficult reality, then we have to reckon with another difficult, “this-does- not-compute” truth. What is that? "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." In other words, knowing all about our rebellion, our pride, our arrogance and ungratefulness, God still sent His Son, His only Son, to die for those sins. Why would He do that? Why would such an act not be considered totally irresponsible, if not truly insane? There is only one thing which makes this right. The Goodness of God.

God is the Source of All Goodness

It is not an accident that in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, the constant refrain from God's efforts in creation is "God saw that it was good"... and when it was all done, He said it was "very good." Why? Because He did it. What difference does that make? God is good, absolutely good and whatever He does is good. It's the only thing He is capable of. He is the source of all goodness.

Why is that so hard to believe? For many people it is hard to believe. Why? Because there is so much evil in the world. The logic goes like this: How can a good God allow evil? If He is who He says He is, why doesn't He rid the world of evil?

Actually, there's a simple answer to that. To rid the world of evil, He would have to eliminate mankind! Man is the source of most of the evil in the world (the devil may have started it, but we embraced it wholeheartedly and continue his work with gusto!). For most people, that idea may be even more surprising! Why? Because there seems to be some sort of primal need in mankind to believe that we are "basically" good, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary. As we'll see, we are willing to go to great lengths protect that delusion.

What is 'Goodness'?

Goodness is that desire or motivation to want to do good to others. It's that inner compelling that makes a person want to show mercy to someone who might not deserve it, to show kindness and mercy to someone who is helpless and in need. It's the desire to meet the needs of the needy, to be gracious with those who deserve judgment.

It's the fulfilling of Paul's exhortation in Romans 12, to not take revenge, even when you have been wronged. It's the ability to feed your enemy when he's hungry or give him a drink when he's thirsty. Paul says we will "pour burning coals on their heads" if we do this. Why is this true? It's totally unnatural. Your enemy would not do it for you. He wouldn't expect you to do it for him. In this way, you are overcoming evil with good.

In the same way, Jesus told His disciples to "love one another." Why? Because "by this all men will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." How would loving one another be such a testimony to "all men"? It was unknown. The world had never seen the sacrificial, selfless love which Jesus revealed in His life as He "went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed..." If the disciples "loved one another" and "went about doing good" as He had, eventually all men would see this love and realize it existed nowhere else but in the followers of Christ. This would be a powerful testimony.

There is only one problem. Goodness can only come from goodness and as Jesus told the rich, young ruler, "only God is good." And we are not God. How can we change this so that we can become good like God?

"But, the fruit of the Spirit is...goodness"

What we are saying is that it is only the regenerate person, the one who is "born again" of the Spirit of God who is able to live a life which manifests the Spirit of goodness. It is unnatural, it is abnormal, it is divine. It can only happen as a result of being made "one with Him" by the Holy Spirit; it's the life of Christ lived "in the Spirit" of Christ.

Any random act of goodness that an unregenerate person performs is simply a remnant, a dying ember of the image of God in which we were first created. And we will be able to distinguish these acts by their motive. How?

Acts of goodness which are the fruit of the flesh will be tainted by selfish motives and done for the glory of the person, not for God or His glory. Acts which are truly the fruit of the Spirit will be motivated by a desire to glorify God. Ideally, they will be selfless acts of sacrificial love, but the reality is that they will likely be increasingly selfless; the more we become like Christ, the more selfless these acts will become.

One of the primary goals of our being "conformed to the image of His Son" is to be like God in His goodness. But, like kindness and faithfulness, it will mature over time. We have to remember, it is a fruit of the Spirit. Fruit takes time to ripen and mature before the sweetness emerges. We have to be careful not to be impatient with the fruit. With the proper nourishment, there is no way the tree cannot bear fruit.

Dr. Graham is absolutely correct, our great spiritual need is not only for forgiveness, but also for goodness. To meet our need, God has graciously caused us to be born-again; by His divine power He has "granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." (2 Peter 1:-4 NASU)

David's Encouragement

King David faced all sorts of trials which could have easily (and sometimes did) turn him aside from believing in the goodness of God, but he always came back. Why? He learned to put things into perspective...God's perspective. And he didn't just look at what happened in the short-term. He learned to look at all the things, all the good things, God had done in his life and he chose to make them his anchor. He left us many of those encouragements in the book of Psalms. Why is this so important?

Mark it down, you cannot live by faith in God and not believe that God is good. It just won't work. You can only entrust yourself to someone you believe will be good to you.

The enemy of our souls knows that if he can plant the seed of doubt in our minds that maybe God is not good...or, maybe He is good to others, but He won't be good to you... IF he can plant that seed, it won't be long before we will be living lives of fear and doubt. Once we are there, he has us where he wants us. Believing we can only trust ourselves. That is a Rx for disaster and failure. David knew differently. 
 

David was not an ivory tower saint, he had real struggles and real failures. But, he had a heart passion for God that delighted God. He wrote it down for us how he encouraged himself...and it has comforted many others for a long, long time. Anchor your faith in it as well. God is faithful and He has promised that He will not fail us or ever forsake us...

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; 

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, 

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." 

  Ps 23:4-6 NASU