Lesson One: God is Good

God desires that His children witness and experience His goodness on a daily basis. We, as His image bearers, have a hunger and thirst for goodness. We search high and low to find people, possessions, and experiences that will provide us with a sense of goodness and well-being.

Artwork by Aubrey | Grade 10

In a world that is rife with the bitter fruits of death, deception, disappointment, and despair we often conclude that goodness is hard to find. Marketers continue to play into this vacuous hole in our lives by promising services, things, opportunities, and accessories that will improve, extend, and amplify our lives. The latest technologies, vehicles, vitamins, diets, and vacation getaways guarantee us a happier and better life. We spend a great deal of money, energy, and time pursuing and accumulating these things only to discover that their lasting goodness is as permanent as a handful of chocolate. We can devour them quickly and enjoy them momentarily, or we can try to hold onto them and watch them melt uselessly in our hands.

In the words of Psalm 34:8 we read the marvelous declaration of King David that the “Lord is good!” His words are definitive. He wants for his readers to experience the goodness of God in a way that is visible and delectable. From his own life, David has concluded that the Lord is good and God’s goodness stands out in contrast to all of the “lesser’’ goods that are readily available.

The Advent season provides a unique window of time for us to investigate our appetites. With our minds (and sometimes our wallets) focused on purchasing and exchanging gifts, we set our hearts on providing and receiving “good” things. Yet Advent reminds us that there is a far greater and lasting Good found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps this season we can invite the Holy Spirit to re-center our appetites and redefine our understanding of goodness so that we too can definitively declare along with David - “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.”