God is faithful, and he always will be because he does not change. God knows all things and is in control of all things so there is no chance of God ever going back on his word or acting differently then he has for all eternity. This is why Paul says that he will remain faithful even if we are faithless. His faithfulness has nothing to do with us ever changing individuals(which we should be continuously grateful about), his faithfulness has everything to do with Him "for he cannot deny himself." He cannot change who he is, he cannot deny his own character and it is because of this that we know he will be faithful forever. Because of this we can have great confidence in the things that he tells us, the things that he promises us. He promises that he will forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9) and we can be completely sure that he will indeed follow through with his promise. This keeps us from worrying whether our sins are actually forgiven or not and also allows us to boldly tell others that God will do the same thing for them as well. In an age of broken promises and skepticism we all need a God like this. A God who we can find peace and assurance in. A God who we can entrust our lives to knowing that he is the only one who is truly faithful.
We must realize that God is good and that he has poured out his goodness upon all of mankind. This must be the foundation of our thoughts about God. Before we approach him in any kind of way we must understand that it is because of his goodness that we are even able to come to him. His goodness is the reason we exist at all and his goodness is the reason we have an opportunity to interact with him. This is the starting point, God's goodness, do we accept it or reject it. There are definitely some who reject the goodness that God has given them(Romans 2:4). There is wrath stored up for these people but glory for the people who accept God's goodness. If we accept God's goodness we are given the opportunity to interact with him because his "goodness leads us to repentance." (Romans 2:4) We then can partake of the rich blessings that he pours out to those who love him and begin a relationship with him through faith, All because of his goodness. In his goodness "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." (2 Peter 1:3) In his goodness we can have eternal life, "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent"(John 17:3). In his goodness we can do "all things through him who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). It is his goodness that gives us everything and lets us live with him and lets us become more like him. His goodness is the foundation for everything that we have been, are, and will be. Praise to the one and true good God.
Essentials: the attributes of God, the teaching of the Trinity, and Christology.
Corey,
ReplyDelete1. Well spoken. I hope you keep these thoughts freshly in your heart as you go out on campus to minister. You're right, we make numerous promises and guarantees when we minister to people and all of it rides on His character of faithfulness, we depend on Him to come through each and every time for everybody!
2. I was pretty impressed with the first half of the composition here, how you brought in Romans 2:4. Very cool. The last half is good too, but you rounded up and recruited a number of thoughts, that while true, did not impress with the laser accuracy of the first part, where goodness is specifically mentioned. Shoot for intensive accuracy. You will never fail to reach believers both new and old.