Good or Bad?

Good or Bad?

In Genesis we read that God created all things, and He said that they were "good". Viewing all things as "good" was how we were meant to live. Viewing anything from a perspective of it being "bad", or evil, was never supposed to even enter our consciousness. (Genesis 2:16,17)

Satan, a consciousness from the opposing perspective, convinced Eve, in her mind, that things aren't really that "good". (Genesis 3:5-7) He convinces her that things could be better. This creates doubt about whether she believes everything is "good" like God had said.

Her belief crosses the threshold and she chooses to believe, "maybe this isn't really that good. I want to see if things can be better." This thinking leads to an action. [Faith requires works to be faith (James 2:14-26). Likewise, fear requires works, or an action, to give birth to fear.] Her newly conceived doubt and fear caused her to act in fear.

Her doubt and fear caused her to now believe that everything God had said was "good", was not actually good. Doubt and fear caused her view and perspective to change. She no longer saw life, herself, or her surroundings as God saw them.

This new fear-based perspective caused Adam and Eve to believe that their nakedness was not good; and they were now in fear of God, hiding from Him. (Genesis 2:25, 3:6-11) Fear is constantly trying to get us to see ourselves, life, and even God, from a negative perspective.

Our perspective will affect our experience. The following scripture alludes to this fact.

With the kind and merciful You will show Yourself kind and merciful, with an upright man You will show Yourself upright, With the pure You will show Yourself pure, and with the perverse You will show Yourself contrary.

Psalm 18:25‭-‬26 AMPC

How do we see God? How we view Him is how we experience Him.

How do we see life? Is it good? Do we see it as good?

God said "it is good". Perhaps our idea of good is incorrect. We have an idea of "perfect" that we often hope for. We view an easy life as being good.

Was it good or bad that Jesus was crucified?

Was it good or bad that Paul experienced being arrested, shipwrecked, and beaten?

Was it good or bad that Joesph was betrayed by his brothers, and sold away as a slave?

Was it good or bad that the Hebrews had become slaves in Egypt for 400 years? (Thought: If they hadn't we wouldn't have the story of Exodus, Moses, or the many lessons learned from it.)

Should good be measured by us, based on circumstances? Perhaps we don't know what good is and what it isn't.

Perhaps good isn't a specific thing occurring, or not occurring. Could "good" be just a state of mind? Maybe seeing good is always an option, in every circumstance.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28 NLT

If we love and trust God then we can know that any circumstance, and every circumstance, is actually good. It may not be enjoyable, but it will be good. It will be used for good.

If we don't live from love and faith, but instead live from a perspective of fear, then we will likely see many situations as being bad. Although good will come out of situations we won't see it.

Is our perspective, our view of life, and life's circumstances, based on love or on fear? Do we wear glasses with a lens of love and trust, or of fear and worry?

Shakespeare - "There is nothing either good or bad, but our beliefs make it so."

Peter rebuked Jesus for saying He would be crucified. Peter viewed the scenario through fear, and saw it as bad.

Then Peter took Him aside to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You! But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.

Matthew 16:22‭-‬23 AMPC

Jesus said that Peter's fear, and his perspective of the scenario - as being bad - was from Satan. Any perspective that is based on fear, is from Satan. Jesus would not allow that perspective of fear to infiltrate His mind. He would face the circumstance of his crucifixion through a mindset of faith and love. He chose to see it as something that needed to happen. Jesus could see it as something that was good, not because it seemed or felt good, but because He knew that if God was allowing it then it would be used for good.

Job struggled with the same thing. What he feared, had come upon him. (Job 3:25) His fears were based on what he judged as being bad. So when that perceived "bad" thing occurred, he struggled to see any good, or purpose. He couldn't see God in it. He couldn't see how this could possibly end up being good; until He talked with God. God basically told him, "my wisdom is higher than yours. You don't know what is good or bad, you really don't know much at all. You need to go back to loving me and trusting me". (Job 38-41)

We have to unlearn our perspectives, and habits, of judging things as "bad". Our perspective won't change who God is, or what He is doing. He is always good, and everything He does is good. But by changing our perspective it will change our experience.

We can either keep seeing circumstances, our past, even our daily life through Satan's perspective, as bad, and experience hell inside of us; or we can begin to view things through God's perspective, as being good, and experience heaven inside of us.