If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:11
We are going to do something a little different today. I would like to start this note with a healthy spiritual exercise, some Biblical confession to help strengthen our faith and give us much needed perspective for the day ahead. We are going to “speak out” Biblical truth over our own lives. Okay? Now, I want everyone to participate. We are going to read the next sentence in this note out loud. Ready? Here goes…”I AM EVIL.” Aaahhh, felt good, didn’t it? Nothing like some positive confession to get the day started on the right foot. In fact, let’s do it one more time just to make sure we are taking in the full meaning and impact. All together now…”I AM EVIL.”
Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just telling you what the Bible declares as truth. God has said it clearly and repeatedly throughout His Word. I am evil. Morally corrupt. Spiritually bankrupt. Broken. Stained by sin. Rotten to the core. God says that there is none righteous. Not even one. There is none who does good. Not even one. Jesus Himself took it even further when He told the rich, young ruler, “No one is good except God alone.” Might not like it. Might not want to admit it. No sense trying to deny it. I am evil.
Now…here’s the point. God only reminds us of our evil nature here in this verse in order to emphasize His own inherent goodness. (It’s a literary device that you find frequently in the Bible known as contrast.) In the same way I am evil, God is good. Not just in what He does or says, but His very essence. His character. His nature. The totality of His being. He IS good. Through and through. Every fiber of His being. Every expression of His person. All He says. All He does. All He is. God is good.
With that in mind just imagine the ramifications. I am evil. And yet I still know how to give good gifts to my own children. Doesn’t mean I always do it but I at least possess the knowledge and the ability. In a way that I will never understand good gifts are able to come from an evil person. What does that say about our God? What does that say about the gifts that He gives? If I, an evil person, can give good gifts how much better in every regard are the gifts that come from One who is the fullness of good? All He does is good. All He gives is good. He can do and give nothing else but good.
I don’t know about you but I really need to remember that most days. See, I have the tendency to look at the landscape of my life and get negative. I start complaining. I start whining. I forget all about thankfulness, gratitude and contentment. I’m like the child on Christmas who has just opened the last gift and looks up only to ask, “That’s it?” It’s easy to get my eyes on the things that God has given others and lose sight of my own blessings. It’s at those times that I most need to be reminded that everything He gives is good. He can give nothing else because good is what He is. He is good. You know…I think I might try saying that out loud a couple times today. “GOD IS GOOD. HE GIVES GOOD GIFTS.” Now, that’s what I call positive confession.