Goodness

What is "good"?

There have been several times as of late where i've heard that term used (usually as it escapes my lips while describing a book, food, a movie, someone's goodwill, you get the idea), and it's struck in me a great need of dissection of it. After all, Jesus said to call no man good for God alone is good (trying to quote Luke 18 by memory; it's something of that facsimile). So what do we call good? God called creation good, so is the land good? Is light good? Is the separation of darkness and light good? Vegetables, fruit, animals, is everything good?

Everything about creation was good except for one thing; God saw that it was specifically not good for man to be alone (which is a completely different topic altogether in the literal sake, but it fits into this). It wasn't good because the light was good by nature; he did not call the darkness -a thing which cannot be measured- good, but rather the light -which can be measured in lumens- was good. The waters came together and it was good. The birds according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kind, the plants according to their kind; these were good because they were representations of God's creativity. They were good because the waters came together (in fellowship became seas). Plants and animals reproduced their own kind and were, therefore, good.

The Word of God, through which all things were made, is good. Creation was good because it reflected God's personality (Word or, Logos). Adam did not just reflect God's personality; Adam was given the likeness of God, as well as the "breath of life," which also translates into "Spirit of life." He didn't bear a resemblance of God's creative personality, he looked like God, and had God's Spirit in him (i doubt Adam was a physical depiction of God, but he was created in the image of God). But there was no proxy of creation in Adam. He was alone and could not, like everything else in creation (excepting light, which was good to be kept separated from dark), be in like company, procreate or, if you will, wield the creative aspect of the personality of God.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good... (Genesis 1:31)

Despite the alinearity of Genesis chapters one and two, i believe the term "very good" was reserved for after the creation of Eve because God saw in chapter two that it was not good for man to be alone, and when God saw the entirety of His creation, it was very good.

Then we tried things our way and things became very not good.

Creation stopped reflecting God correctly. The various animals and vegetation according to their kinds continued on, but even the ground was cursed. That makes things pretty well ugly. There was some sort of funhouse mirror effect where creation now looked back at God through a glass darkly. He saw sin whenever He looked at man.

For a long while, things here on earth were graced by moments of "goodness" from God, but we ceased to be good. In fact, we are called evil several times, and rightly so. One of the most intense occurrences being from Genesis 6;

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (v. 5-7)

That is a very in-depth look into how He felt. Wickedness was great, every intention of the thoughts of our hearts was only evil continually. We perpetuated nothing except evil. Our offspring were a curse, for wickedness consumed them. And though some may say that we're not evil by nature, i want to ask when the last time a child had to be taught to spew wrath, have a fit of anger, be selfish, lie, or any sort of evil thing was? Every inclination is only evil continually.
Nothing of ourselves says charity, not even our giving when it's not directed by God; if we make the choice to give to the poor and the needy, if the choice is not God working in us, we are looking for recognition, either by our fellow man, from God, or our own pride (as said in a prior post, pride and love are often confused for one another).
There is no such thing as a genuinely good deed done by man. There is no wisdom from man, only from God; the wisdom of man, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, leads to atheism, nihilism, universalism, and various other faulted philosophies. Even theology of God, if not wrought out of prayer and meditation and inspired by God, is a crippling theology.

Through Christ, however, there is redemption.
Many people see redemption as being set free from a prison, but the etymological definition is something i find most humbling. Re (back) + emere (buy or take).
Redemption is not just being set free, it's being taken back or bought back.
Through Christ, the Word of God, that through which all things were made and made good, we again have the Spirit of God in us, and through Him the creative purposes of "Let there be" and "He blessed them" return. We are taken back. Through Him, good comes to us (or else we come to good; take your pick) again. Good takes us back when we are redeemed.
Through Christ, we can be many people of one Spirit in true fellowship with God, the original and beautiful intention of creation. For this reason, we are not to forsake meeting with fellow believers. I'm not saying you have to go to a church to be Christian (that's above my authority to choose, praise God), but to see and reflect the creative and harmonious image of the idea of creation it is a necessity. It is not good for man to be alone. When we fellowship and several individuals come together in one heart, one mind, and one Spirit for the sake of glorifying God, it is very good.

To answer that initial question promptly, only God is good. But God takes us back from not good through the blood of Christ.

A Call To Exposition

First and foremost, i would like to encourage a quick reading of Ephesians chapter five (look, that's even a link to it for you), namely verses one through fifteen, but the entire chapter is quite instructional and useful. It pleads with us to love one another, and to serve out of that love. It's a wonderful concept. In fact, it says to submit to one another "out of reverence for Christ."
Isn't it a beautiful thing to see people serving others because of their respect for Christ? Because they see creation as part of His handiwork and, therefore, bless others because they're made in the image of God?
This post is not about that at all. In fact, that's from the part of the chapter that comes after verse fifteen. Moreover, this is about sin.

Let's have a glance over at a specific passage;
"...for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light..." (v. 8)
At one time, we were darkness. Take note here of the lack of the word "in." We weren't just dwelling in darkness, but we manifested it. We were one with sin, we didn't just live with it. There was nothing of us that we could do that wasn't darkness.
The hope, however, enters with the first phrase, "for at one time..." which means we no longer are. Again, "now you are light in the Lord." We see a similar reference in the parable of the lamp under a jar in Matthew; “You are the light of the world."
We are no longer darkness, or even in darkness. We are light (note another absence of "in"). People see God because they see us. Through us, this world knows what the hands and feet of God are up to--and that cannot be idleness.

But our darkness must become resolved with our new being lest we remain partially darkened, and a light can't emit darkness.
There is a way.
"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'" (v. 11-14)

It says to take no part in works of darkness, have no sinfulness about you, let no shadow fall on you, but rather expose it to light.

"And they have conquered him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death." (Revelation 12:11)

We have conquered Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. How else can we have a testimony but by an exposition?
If you want to see the full redemptive power of God for Salvation, the Gospel come to power in its fruition, the world around you change entirely, let your testimony be heard. Expose the works of darkness you once emanated and make them light. Make them your testimony. Make them the hope for others in the same place you were in when you were pulled out by the blood of the Lamb.

As to our darkness being resolved with our new life, this is what is meant; anything exposed by light becomes light. Wake from the death that is the flesh, let Christ shine on you, and let His light illuminate the darkness you once were, and even it will become light, a beacon to others. In this, your testimony is created and brought forth to be a light for others struggling as you were.

This is a call to confession, if you can't tell. I don't care who you confess to, but confess to somebody--preferably somebody who needs to know there is hope. Let them know that Christ is your only hope, and that He's theirs as well.
You can confess to a pastor or minister (that is perhaps a safe place to start) but that hardly builds them up, now does it? God distributes gifts for building others up. Your testimony is a gift, and He intends for you to build others up with it.

The Rocks Cry Out

Surely, should mankind cease to give praise unto the Lord God Almighty, even the rocks would cry out. Yes, the trees already reach for Him, the birds sing for Him, the oceans torrent for Him, the wind rushes, the mountains tremble, the clouds dance; all things are made for the glory of God, and give glory they shall. It is not reliant solely upon mankind to glorify God.

Often, we think we are the sole proprietors of praise, practicing worship of Him in exclusivity of ourselves, but we are vain.

God wants our praise, of course, and He desires our love. He craves us more than we crave water in a desert, air under water. He craves intimacy with us. His relationship with each person is like that of a Father to a child who can't even grasp what “I love you” fully means.
But we are not the sole shareholders when it comes to giving Him glory.

When asked by the Pharisees to rebuke His disciples for praising Him as coming “In the name of the Lord,” Jesus said “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
The stones would cry out.
The rocks along the road, the foundations of buildings, the markers for graves; these things would cry out to God, giving Him praise.
And since the dawn of creation, we have not been able to bring enough glory to Him to keep the universe silent.

We were made for fellowship. When God made Adam, He made Eve as well because He saw that it was not good for man to be alone. He made a companion. In everything, we should have fellowship with others.
Where two or three gather in His name, He's there.
To bring confession to fulfillment, it requires a person to confess to.
Even Solomon said it's not good for a person to be on their own because when they fall, they have no one to help them up.

Teams work together in ways that don't make a whole lot of logical sense; the result is greater that the sum of the whole. Three people can get a job done in less than a third of the time it takes one person. It's why we have assembly lines.
So with this thought of a fellowship working together to amass or exude greater glory than the sum of its parts, we should turn our thoughts heavenward. Not necessarily to the place of Heaven, but to the sky, the heavens above.

Suns burn, planets form and circle, and the cosmic ballet ensues.
More than this, they are things crying out for the unquenchable fire of God's glory.
Dust in space sticks together, and with the fellowship that follows, an infinitesimal amount of gravity is displayed, which draws more dust. It piles and combines and grows until it reaches a mass sufficient enough to ignite—and thus a new star is born. A process that, according to physicists, should take billions of years.
But God said “Let there be light,” and there was. It doesn't say over the course of billions of years the sky grew speckled with the light of stars. No, the stars appeared then. At that moment.
The glory of God is so demanding that physics bends to suit it. His voice created the physics in which the dust even exists—it is not a far-fetched thought that certain rules are note so certain when He requires them to take a measure of malleability.

The universe is already crying out for the glory of God, it's a sad fact that we're seldom observant enough to notice.
But this negligibility was spawned at the moment of creation; not by God's negligence, but by the inability of things limited to these few dimensions to quench all that He demands.
The physical realm, this universe, cannot contain Him sufficiently to not be in a constant state of radiance on His behalf.

A prime example would be Moses after receiving the Ten Commandments; his face was glowing with blinding intensity.
Elijah, Moses, and Jesus, at the Transfiguration, were all radiating His glory in the visible spectrum.

Being close enough to someone (as in a level of intimacy), mankind starts to take on certain physical attributes of others (I think there's another post about this).
But being close to God alters the physics of our being. We don't know what He is like, but we know that we'll be like Him (a paraphrase of a verse in 1 John, I think chapter one). We will emanate the same light as they did, because we will be that close to Him, and it will be for His glory, not ours.

Truly, the universe, nature, and all of creation for that matter, already is brimming because there is not sufficient glory to be given to Him in this realm to sate that which His very presence demands, therefore it all burns for His glory.

Radiance

God made us adaptive.
We get into things that aren't good, even if we don't partake ourselves, and we start looking "dark". Not in complexion, but in nature. We just look like what we surround ourselves with.

That's why, when Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets, his face was shining. He had been close enough to God that he had become sort of like him; God's glory was embedded in him, and he radiated. He didn't know it was happening, but eventually put on a veil to cover it. He had been in the presence of God, seen God pass by (not His face), and it caused him to glow (Exodus 34).

That's not the only instance of this happening, either. In Luke's account of the Transfiguration, there's one noticeable variation from the other two accounts. There are other accounts where Jesus' face was shining (Matthew's version compared Jesus' face to the sun), and His clothes were bright as lightning, but this account says Moses and Elijah were in "glorious splendor." (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9)
Quite possibly shining along with Jesus.

The angels at the tomb of Jesus are described as wearing clothes that were like lightning.

1 John 3 says that what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him.
God made us adaptive. When we are in the presence of God, our nature alters to be more like His--even to the point of literally glowing. Personally, i've never glowed, nor seen someone who did. I do know, however, that when He comes in His full glory, in comparison to His prior earthly existence as a butterfly is to a caterpillar, we will also be transfigured. We will radiate. We will shine like Him.

Lastly, and not least, there is Revelation 22. The final chapter of the final book of the Bible.
When God has wiped every tear from our eyes, when He has given the water of life to the thirsty, when He dwells among us, He will replace the sun. 
"There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light." (22:5)
And we're going to get to be near Him, and we will become more like Him, because He made us to be like what we surround ourselves with.