It’s easy to forget. It’s easy to lose focus on what really matters and to take for granted those things that are the most important. When we lose focus, we have a tendency to drift into ways of doing things and patterns of thinking that are of the flesh and not of God. With that in mind here are three truths that we should call to mind every single day.
God is real – We profess to know Him and to be His children but our thoughts and actions often tell a different story. How often do we try to solve a problem without consulting Him? How many of our decisions on a daily basis include Him and His strength rather than our own? Are we moving through life with the weight of the world on our shoulders or have we cast all of our cares on Him?
If God is real and His words are true then it follows that we would be better off to listen and obey. When we remember Him and include Him we are blessed and He is glorified. When we forget Him and try to do things our own way we will inevitably stumble and fall.
Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created (Revelations 4:11) NASB
God is able – More than just knowing God exists and believing in Him we must learn that God is able. He alone holds this world and all of us in His mighty hands. He spoke all of creation into existence with just a word and with just a word He is able to calm all of the storms of life.
We need to see God in action. We need to experience firsthand how great and powerful our God really is. And that only happens as we seek Him with our whole heart and invite Him to move and to work in us and through us.
It takes trust to know that God is able. Trust comes from our faith and our faith grows little by little as we walk step by step through this life with Him. As He brings us through each trial and each tribulation and as we stumble and fall and experience His love and mercy all over again we get to know Him more and more. God is able. God can do it. There is nothing that He can’t redeem.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4) NASB
God is good – If you’ve seen the movie “God is not Dead” (and if you haven’t you should stop what you are doing and go watch it right now!) then you will remember the pastor of the local church and his missionary friend. They have a saying that takes both of them to complete and it is: “God is good (first person says this) All the time (second person says this) And all the time (first person again) God is good. (second person finishes). This movie is not the origin of that statement but it does such an excellent job of showing how important that statement is and how we should be using it to lift one another up that I had to include it here.
In the midst of an evil, fallen world it’s very easy to forget that God is good all the time and all the time He is good. We are tried and we are tested and it often seems like evil is winning. And if evil is winning then how can God really be good?
He is good because His character is perfect and good and it is an ultimate, timeless good. The evil and trials of this world are temporary and will pass away. God allows evil to exist in the world for this span of time so that we might choose Him of our own free will. If we choose Him now, in the midst of this fallen world, then one day we will get to be with Him in a perfect place where there is no evil, no sickness, no death, no weakness and no sin.
As God works in our lives (and He is working whether we notice or not) will we choose to trust in His timing, trust in His plan and trust in His ultimate goodness? Even when it seems like everything is falling apart? Can we encourage each other and hold each other up by looking forward to a day when God will do away with evil once and for all? Or will we forget that God really is good?
To know Him is to know His goodness and His character. Get to know who God is and we will never doubt His goodness or character!
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting. (Psalm 136:1)
It is a bit of a paradox how we believe these three points but we so easily live as though we don’t believe.
Exactly right, Jon. How easily we forget and how often we need to be reminded of those foundational truths.