The Goodness of God

In an increasingly uncertain world, we must cling to that which never changes.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is GOOD and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations. 

Psalm 100

Whew. What a week.

Of all the topics we could have chosen to emphasize today, God’s goodness felt like the right choice. God is described in scripture as “good to all” (Psalm 145:9), one who “will meet all of [our] needs” (Philippians 4:19) and “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

The word “omnibenevolent” is not used in the Bible, but God’s goodness— how he interacts with his creation— is referenced throughout the narrative of scripture. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word omnibenevolence as “unlimited or infinite benevolence.” God is seeking our good in infinite amounts; this is the foundational aspect of God’s character upon which a proper understanding of Him is built.

God is always good. God is always loving.

And when it comes to God, love isn’t just a verb, it’s also a noun. God isn’t just loving; God is love. This is the only characteristic of God that isn’t just something he does— it’s who he is.

Scripture tells us that God is love right now, in this very moment. God didn’t become love at some finite point in the past. God is, and has always been, love.

God’s omnibenevolence, the truth that “God is love,” is the foundation upon which everything else is built. It’s also the common thread that weaves the entire story of God and humanity together. More clearly than anything else, love reveals to us who God is and who we are. If we miss this, we miss everything. 

So how does this help us? Scripture unveils God’s love for us so that we will live and love from a place of fullness, the abundant life Jesus references in John 10:10. When we understand God’s love for us, sacrificial and unconditional, we are better equipped to love those around us.

Here is a basic framework which can be used to understand our true identities as God’s beloved based on his omnibenevolence:

1. God is love. 

We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16

This same passage tells us that all true love comes from God and that everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God because God is love.

2. God creates us in love.

Like a pregnant mother ushers new life into existence, God lovingly gave birth to humanity. 

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them… God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Genesis 1:27, 31

Everything our God creates in love is “very good” because our God is good. But many of you know that tragedy soon strikes God’s “very good” world. Adam and Eve turn their backs on the love of God to go their own way and when that happens, sin and brokenness enter the world. 

3. God pursues us in love.

From the Garden of Eden until today, the story of humanity is one marked by God choosing to love us even when we turn our backs on him. 

In the Old Testament, God reassures the people of his loving pursuit in one of their lowest moments:

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again.

Jeremiah 31:3-4

In the New Testament, this loving pursuit leads him to put on flesh and come to earth as Jesus:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

4. God saves us in love.

Paul echoes God’s loving pursuit of us and our salvation when he tells the church why Jesus came, died, and rose again:

God is so rich in mercy, and he loves us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

Ephesians 2:4-5

5. God commands us to love.

When the people asked Jesus what the most important thing was, he gave us the Great Commandment:

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

The Christian life comes down to Loving God and Loving Others. Paul puts it bluntly in his letter to the Galatian church:

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:6

6. Love never ends. 

This is a quote taken directly from the most famous words ever written about love. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 8: “Love never ends.”

God’s story culminates in the return of Jesus. He comes back to earth to finish his work of restoration and make all things new. When that day comes, it will usher in a forever world marked completely by love.

Love will always be there. Even when everything else changes, love remains the same.

This is true of God’s other characteristics, too; they will always be a part of him. Unlike love, though, God will not always have use for some of his other characteristics. 

For example:

• God will always be “just,” but when Jesus returns and fixes all of the brokenness in our world, there will no longer be any injustice to combat.

• God will always be “omnipresent,” but when Jesus returns and dwells with us, there will no longer be any need for God to be outside of space and time; we will be all together in the New Heaven and New Earth. 

• God will always be “omnificent,” having the power to create all things, but when Jesus returns and makes all things new, there will no longer be any need for God to create.

But love…

Love will always be present.

Love never ends. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 13

God is love. He created us in love, pursued us in love, saved us in love, commands us to love, and someday Jesus will come again in love to make all things new; he will show all people that his love will never end.

No matter our current circumstance, Scripture says that we don’t mourn like those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Rather, we have access to a peace that surpasses all understanding and a joy that transcends our circumstances. Our omnibenevolent God, who is love, is by our side. 

Even during times like these, when things feel so uncertain, God doesn’t change. He is always good, and he is always loving.

As Brennan Manning says, “God is not moody or capricious. He knows no seasons of change. He has a single relentless stance toward us: He loves us.”

No matter what comes our way, God is with us, God is for us, and God loves us. In an increasingly uncertain world, we must cling to that which never changes. Our God is omnibenevolent: he is always good, he is always loving, and nothing can separate us from his love.

What can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, [not even economic downturn, racism, or a global pandemic… nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

Even though it may not seem like it, our God, who is love, is working for our good in the midst of all that surrounds us. I know this is true because Scripture teaches it over and over again, but also because I’ve experienced it over and over again in my own life. 

As Rachel Held Evans put it so perfectly: “Should all other identities or securities be thrown into tumult, should nations be fractured and temples torn down, this truth remains — God is with us and God is for us.”