John 10:10-11 speaks into our lives a very great truth,
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
I can tell you that my old view of God was that He was good to me sometimes, but not all the time. That sometimes He was blessing me and opening all the right doors; but other times, He was the source of your troubles. I couldn't have been more wrong. The way I was perceiving God was very transactional and not at all relational.
It has taken me almost 39 years of living and everything else that comes along with being alive to learn the real reason Jesus came was to give me an abundant life and have a personal relationship with me, while the devil, the enemy, wants to steal, kill, and destroy. God is always a good God, and the devil is always a bad devil.
I remember, as a young man, I was in a troubled place in my life, so I sought counsel from someone wiser than I was about what was going on in my life. The person that I sought out told me that God was doing all of these things in my life and didn't explain it any further. Talk about making a guy take a second look at God and what He was allowing me to go through in my life. It shook me to think that God was the source of my troubles and that He was responsible for all the troubles in my life. Here I was trying desperately to be the best person that I could be and all God could do was sit back and play with my life like I was a lowly pawn on a cosmic chessboard. Or so I thought...
As I have grown in my faith and I have examined the lives of others and got better instruction in the true nature of God and what He does in our lives and who He really is, I have learned that a lot of people tend to think the same way I did, but it is just flat out wrong. Hear me when I say this: God is good all the time! Doubt what I am saying, The Bible shows us in James 1:12,
"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
And James goes on to say in verse 17,
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
There is not the slightest degree of variation in this. God is good, all the time. He is good when things are going well at work and when you lose your job. God is good when you are healthy and He is just as good when you get a terminal diagnosis from your doctor. God is good when you find the love of your life and He is just as good when you go through the loss of your spouse due to unexpected circumstances. And the all these experiences or gifts He gives are all good and perfect gifts. I am glad they don’t just stay in heaven. God sees to it that they make their way down to us. It is part of our lives as we walk with Him. His eye is always on us and His hand is always present for those that serve Him. We are never alone. We are never walking on a high mountain or in the lowest valley that God isn't there.
We choose to determine how we react to our experiences in life and how we will respond when the ebbs and flows of life rock the boat we are sailing in. We can either shout in the valley and tell the enemy that "God is still good even though I am here!" Or we can sit up on the mountaintop and live in fear of what might come to knock us off.
I choose to say, on both the mountain and in the valley that "God is good all the time and all the time God is good."
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
I can tell you that my old view of God was that He was good to me sometimes, but not all the time. That sometimes He was blessing me and opening all the right doors; but other times, He was the source of your troubles. I couldn't have been more wrong. The way I was perceiving God was very transactional and not at all relational.
It has taken me almost 39 years of living and everything else that comes along with being alive to learn the real reason Jesus came was to give me an abundant life and have a personal relationship with me, while the devil, the enemy, wants to steal, kill, and destroy. God is always a good God, and the devil is always a bad devil.
I remember, as a young man, I was in a troubled place in my life, so I sought counsel from someone wiser than I was about what was going on in my life. The person that I sought out told me that God was doing all of these things in my life and didn't explain it any further. Talk about making a guy take a second look at God and what He was allowing me to go through in my life. It shook me to think that God was the source of my troubles and that He was responsible for all the troubles in my life. Here I was trying desperately to be the best person that I could be and all God could do was sit back and play with my life like I was a lowly pawn on a cosmic chessboard. Or so I thought...
As I have grown in my faith and I have examined the lives of others and got better instruction in the true nature of God and what He does in our lives and who He really is, I have learned that a lot of people tend to think the same way I did, but it is just flat out wrong. Hear me when I say this: God is good all the time! Doubt what I am saying, The Bible shows us in James 1:12,
"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
And James goes on to say in verse 17,
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
There is not the slightest degree of variation in this. God is good, all the time. He is good when things are going well at work and when you lose your job. God is good when you are healthy and He is just as good when you get a terminal diagnosis from your doctor. God is good when you find the love of your life and He is just as good when you go through the loss of your spouse due to unexpected circumstances. And the all these experiences or gifts He gives are all good and perfect gifts. I am glad they don’t just stay in heaven. God sees to it that they make their way down to us. It is part of our lives as we walk with Him. His eye is always on us and His hand is always present for those that serve Him. We are never alone. We are never walking on a high mountain or in the lowest valley that God isn't there.
We choose to determine how we react to our experiences in life and how we will respond when the ebbs and flows of life rock the boat we are sailing in. We can either shout in the valley and tell the enemy that "God is still good even though I am here!" Or we can sit up on the mountaintop and live in fear of what might come to knock us off.
I choose to say, on both the mountain and in the valley that "God is good all the time and all the time God is good."
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