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Good or not so good?

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10th July 2018

How would you define the word 'good'? It's actually quite an important question... Join Gemma Willis as she reflects on Psalm 16...

Read: Psalm 16

What is a good life? What makes for a successful existence?

A big house? A fast car? A happy family? A million likes? Great exam results? A high-flying career? A fat bank balance? The ‘perfect’ body?

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I suspect if I were to read Psalm 16:2 aloud, to a group of young people who wouldn’t describe themselves as Christians, the reaction would be interesting.

“… apart from you I have no good thing…” Really?

For most young people today, whilst there are many things in their lives that they’d like to change, there are usually at least one or two things they’d describe as good.

And the same goes for me. I have a good husband, a good house, a good garden, good friends and a good job (and no – I’m not just saying that because I work for SU!).

So did David (who wrote Psalm 16) just get it wrong? Or did he have a particularly miserable life that genuinely didn’t have anything good in it?

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Well, I suppose all of this really depends on your definition of good…

According to www.dictionary.com, ‘good’ has over eleven different definitions, ranging from morally excellent, to reliable, from well-behaved, to genuine, and so on. Compared against these definitions, I, and many young people today really do have an abundance of good things in our lives.

But I believe God’s goodness is different. And I don’t think www.dictionary.com even gets close.

Only God’s goodness is unfailing, unconditional, and totally pure. I can’t think of a single ‘good’ thing in my life either right now, or hypothetically at some point in the future that could measure up to those standards.

Human goodness is definitely fallible, often conditional and hardly ever pure.

And that’s why David (who wrote Psalm 16) says he has nothing good, aside from God. Because when you compare every ‘good’ thing in life to a ‘good’ God, the ‘good’ things in life are suddenly not very ‘good’ at all.

Writing several hundred years after David wrote Psalm 16, James writes this:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father…” (James 1:17)

So, according to James even the things we think of as ‘good’ in life are in fact from God – the one and only source of true goodness.

But back to reading Psalm 16 aloud. I don’t imagine the reaction would be much improved if I said:

“… apart from you I have no really good thing, because you’re the only really good thing and all the things I thought were good came from you anyway…”

I believe God’s goodness is something you have to experience to even begin to understand it. It doesn’t make sense unless you’ve seen it in action – up close and personal.

Perhaps if the young people I was reading to had encountered Christians who demonstrated God’s unfailing, unconditional and totally pure goodness it would be easier to accept the truth of Psalm 16:2…

Easier said than done… but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try!

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Gemma Willis

Content Innovator

Gemma Willis has over 14 years of experience in working with children and young people. She is passionate about communicating the good news of Jesus in relevant, exciting and engaging ways. She also likes pies, mountains and cats.

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