This is good …
Summary: The concept of “good and evil” or “good and bad” is central to what the Bible is all about.
Reading Paul’s letter to Timothy is not really like reading someone else’s mail. Paul’s words to Timothy are also intended for us. We are the real audience he was writing for. In the same way, it is not really Paul who wrote the letter — God is the real author (2 Timothy 3:16). This is important because if it is God’s Word we are reading, then the phrase “This is good…” takes on special meaning.
For example, let’s imagine that we are all invited to a banquet. Everyone you know is going to be there with you. We all get dressed up in our best clothes and make our way to the place where the banquet is being held.
When we arrive, we are ushered into the banquet hall and directed to our seats. The room is huge. The table settings are magnificent. The decor is beyond anything we have ever seen or imagined. Servants are everywhere, and as we sit down, they assist us by placing the cloth napkin that was sitting on the table over our laps.
Several hundred people are attending. The host and hostess are seated at the head table, smiling and talking. The room is full of the sounds of quiet conversation, polite laughter, and the bustle of attendants filling water glasses.
Expectations run high. You turn to the person next to you and say, “This is going to be good!” as the wait staff begins to serve the appetizer. The wait staff approach your table with a tray of plates and begin to distribute them. You have noticed the smiles of others who already have their food, seen their eyes light up, and watched as they begin to eat.
Now it is your turn.
Your plate arrives, it is set before you, and the waiter continues to serve everyone else. You look down at your plate and …
What is this?!
What you see is not what you expected. Everyone else seems to be enjoying their food, but … how? You can’t abide the smell, and looking at it makes your stomach turn. This is not good!
Do you see what happened?
The host thinks the food is good, and others seem to think the food is good, but you don’t agree. So is the food “good” or not?
When it comes to deciding what is good or not, we like to “be the judge.” Certainly, when it comes to what we like to eat, that is a reasonable expectation. However, when it comes to the larger issues of “right” and “wrong,” God is the only judge that matters.
In a way, good and evil have their own taste and smell. God throws a banquet for us and says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).
Sometimes, we don’t like what is on our plate, but that is the challenge that confronts all believers. Do we use our own judgment or God’s? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
Application: Learn to love what God loves.
Food for Thought: What do we do if we have to eat something we don’t like? Do our tastes ever change?
What do we do if we have to eat something we don’t like?
Prior to the age of ten, my parents would cook and try and force me to eat. I would refuse, and they did some pretty extreme things to try and make me. When I went to live with my grandmother she did something different. She cooked and I had the choice to eat or not, but she wasn’t going to give me anything else. So the real choice at first changed from “I have to eat this because my grandmother says so”, to “I need to eat because I am hungry.” Later, my choice to eat, even when I did not like the food, came from respect for the cook and gratitude for what I was given. Refusing to eat something that someone makes for you displays a significant amount of ingratitude. Any dish sprinkled with gratitude becomes satisfying.
Proverbs 27:7 One who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet
1 Timothy 4:4
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
Do our tastes ever change?
I am sure everyone has an opinion on whether or not our tastes change. My personal opinion is this: our preference on food depends greatly on how it is served. Food prepared to taste one way can be appealing, food prepared to taste another way can be repulsive. Same with texture, same with presentation (color/consistency), and same with mastication. One thing I do believe, just from my own personal experience and what I have witnessed in others, once a food is served in a manner that someone enjoys it their attitude towards it changes from dislike to like. So it is not that their taste has changed, just their attitude toward the food.
So, in the context of today’s meditation, I will say this: if someone wants to know the goodness of God, they have to read the Word. They have to seek Him. Many people have tried to offer who God is to others, the character of God, the love of God, and this is good-I don’t disparage this, but to personally understand who God is, His character, His love, one must meet Him in the Word, and in through the Word, speak to Him, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform their understanding of Him. A relationship with God is both consistent in truth with everyone, and deeply personal to each individual.
Psalm 27:4
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Thank you, Chris.
You’ve really taken this question to the next level. I appreciate your grandma’s approach. It shows a lot of wisdom. It also reflects God’s character — he doesn’t force us to change, but rather invites us to change.
Your comment reminded me of Romans 12:2 —
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”