The Goodness of the World

Feeding the hungry. Protecting the vulnerable. Defending the oppressed. Respecting natural resources.

These are all good pursuits that can be seen in the world on a general level. And, in a way, those who pursue these good deeds are displaying the love of God whether they mean to or not; as we saw in the previous post, God's goodness has a heart for the hungry, the vulnerable, the oppressed, and creation as a whole.

But where exactly does the "goodness" of the world stray from the goodness that comes only from above? To answer this, we should first consider what the world deems as morally good.

For example, according to the world:
It was once morally good to persecute and unrightfully enslave groups of people based on their skin color or nationality.
It was once morally good to promote unprotected sex through the "free love" era.
It is currently morally good  to abort the unborn baby's life even if the reason is simply so that a woman can engage in irresponsible and unprotected sex.
It is currently morally good for grown adults to push their sexual agendas onto small children, in order to promote sexual preferences and passions.

The point is, throughout history, the definition of and expression of moral goodness within the world--and apart from God--changes with the wind. One generation deems xyz as being good. The next, they contradict their former loud declarations by stating what was once considered "good" is now considered toxic, harmful, irresponsible, unhealthy, or unsafe.

So while there are some basic elements of good in the world that all of humanity can engage in, without a definitive guideline for what is considered to be moral, ethical, and even right, leads to division, contradiction, chaos, and even death.

For the Christian, however, there is so much peace and assurance in knowing that God's standards of what is right, good, and beneficial do not change with the streams of cultural agendas or generational movements.  God's goodness is steady, anchored, and always has the soul in mind.

From the Words of God, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death" (Proverbs 14:12). But "woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20). The world's pursuit of moral goodness speaks for itself as the result often looks like outcomes such as STDs, AIDs, damage to the body, divorce, literal death, etc. But God's goodness and moral compass always point to freedom, life, and the good fruit of His Holy Spirit that we have been discussing from Galatians 5.