Goodness Fruit

When I was a kid, all of us munchkins would fold our hands, close our eyes and repeat our memorized prayer in our best country bumpkin accents before every meal. “God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food…”

We kids had it right. God is great, and He is good, so when did our prayer life change from “God, I know you’re good” to “God, I hope you’re in a good mood”?

Something happens between the first day of kindergarten, the second marriage, and the third trip to the funeral home.

After years of what feels like just bad — being bad, talking bad, living bad, experiencing and feeling bad — you do something amazing. You recreate God in your own self-image! Crazy, isn’t it? Through the lens of your messed up life, you become less convinced that God is really good because you’re not.

It’s a good thing Jesus programmed you to connect with Him because “in Him is life and that life was the light of men.” He created you and me to yearn for His goodness, knowing we would have to fight to comprehend it.

“He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Drop that poisoned apple that tells you God is not good! Once you take a bite, you become bewitched into believing He is waiting for you to mess up so He can punish you. It takes a miracle from the Prince of Peace to kiss you with His goodness — forgiveness through salvation — and awaken you to the truth.