What's good without God?
I was sitting in class the other day and the discussion was on how to solve the insurgency problem in the middle east. In truth, it was about how to counter insurgencies - groups that try to disrupt the current state of affairs in a nation and eventually gain some form of control.
We were talking about different ways of working with people and governments in such nations and how to effect their hearts and minds so that the people would feel that their needs were being met and that their government was doing a good job. Some of the ideas had to do with educating the people, others with instilling confidence through military force, and others were about humanitarian assistance.
And then it occurred to me. The answer was simple. What these people needed was the same thing that everyone needs. It's what we are all looking for to meet our needs and yet for some reason we go around in circles trying to find it.
It's Jesus. These people need Jesus just like so many other's do.
At this point I realized that anything we came up with was futile. The best answer we could possibly come up with would be the one that was closest to God.
That's all we were doing - we were trying to think up good things that could be done without God. It's done all the time in our nation and around the world. People recognize goodness; it's hard to miss. We like things that are good. It makes us feel good to know that things are good or can be good. However, what often makes things uncomfortable is recognizing the source of any goodness as being God.
Jesus himself, when called "good teacher", replied saying, "only God is good."
Yet, instead of acknowleding God as good, we try to strip God out of any goodness we come up with or see. It's foolish. And yet we continue, trying our best to solve the world's problems using the things that are of God (i.e., good things such as love, charity, respect, discipline, security, peace, equality) and yet try to make them appear as Godless (I mean without recognition of God) as possible.
So what is good without God? Looking at the letters in "good" and then taking out "God" leaves us with "o". That's right, we are left with nothing, zero, a circle that we go round and around unaware that what we are really looking for is surrounding us on every side.
May you look up from going in circles today and see God's goodness. It is there.
Blessings to you.
We were talking about different ways of working with people and governments in such nations and how to effect their hearts and minds so that the people would feel that their needs were being met and that their government was doing a good job. Some of the ideas had to do with educating the people, others with instilling confidence through military force, and others were about humanitarian assistance.
And then it occurred to me. The answer was simple. What these people needed was the same thing that everyone needs. It's what we are all looking for to meet our needs and yet for some reason we go around in circles trying to find it.
It's Jesus. These people need Jesus just like so many other's do.
At this point I realized that anything we came up with was futile. The best answer we could possibly come up with would be the one that was closest to God.
That's all we were doing - we were trying to think up good things that could be done without God. It's done all the time in our nation and around the world. People recognize goodness; it's hard to miss. We like things that are good. It makes us feel good to know that things are good or can be good. However, what often makes things uncomfortable is recognizing the source of any goodness as being God.
Jesus himself, when called "good teacher", replied saying, "only God is good."
Yet, instead of acknowleding God as good, we try to strip God out of any goodness we come up with or see. It's foolish. And yet we continue, trying our best to solve the world's problems using the things that are of God (i.e., good things such as love, charity, respect, discipline, security, peace, equality) and yet try to make them appear as Godless (I mean without recognition of God) as possible.
So what is good without God? Looking at the letters in "good" and then taking out "God" leaves us with "o". That's right, we are left with nothing, zero, a circle that we go round and around unaware that what we are really looking for is surrounding us on every side.
May you look up from going in circles today and see God's goodness. It is there.
Blessings to you.
posted by hyatt4 at
6:27 AM
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