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www.truthworks.com 12 SEP 03 devotion archive send this page to a friend |
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GOOD and I tell you the Truth, Genesis
1: When God made
something during the week of creation, He said that it was good.
When all was said and done, God looked upon His creation and noticed not
only that it was good, but that it was very good.
Each individual aspect of creation is good.
But when God finishes a job, its completeness becomes very good.
So, from the very beginning, this world we live in was very good, not
because of whom we are but because of who created it. So, from there,
let’s nail down another factor – when did God begin and when will He end?
Good answer – never and never. He
always was and always will be. And
since God is good and God is eternal, past present and future, then goodness is
eternal, past present and future. Goodness
always has been and always will be, not because of goodness, but because of
where it comes from – from God. OK, now stay with me.
The next question is where did Satan come from and when will he end?
Ok, good guess. He was
created by a good God at some point. What’s
important is to know that Satan had a beginning and (here’s the good part!)
Satan definitely has an end! The
time will come when he will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity. Goodness is eternal.
Evil is temporary. I tell you
the truth – evil could never have come about unless goodness was there first.
You see, evil is nothing in itself – evil is the perversion of good.
Goodness exists without evil. Evil
cannot exist without goodness. We
just proved that in our previous statements about eternal things and temporary
things. Not only does
goodness exist without evil, but goodness will always outweigh evil.
Evil will always loose in the end. Goodness
will always prevail. There is a lie
in the world which says there is a balance of good and evil.
No way. Have you ever seen a
Ying-yang? A Ying-yang is a symbol
borrowed from oriental religion which looks like a circle with two tear drops
placed in mirror image of one another. One
tear drop is black with a white dot and the other is white with a black dot.
It has many meanings, but ultimately it means that there is a balance of
good and evil in this world. And
within every evil thing, there is a little bit of good.
And within every good thing, there is a little bit of evil.
The Ying-yang is a lie. There
is no balance of good and evil. Evil
will never equal good. If evil and good were
equal, then Satan might just have a chance.
If evil and good are equal, then Satan’s power would be equal to God.
Allow me to state that Satan is not the opposite of God.
If he were the opposite, he would be equally opposite and he is not.
Satan is not the opposite of God, he the false imitation of God, at least
that is what he attempts to be. His
power is not equal to God. The fact
is, nothing is the complete opposite of God.
Nothing can equal His grace, His love and His provisions in the realm of
evil. (Boy, Randy, you’ve made a lot of statements here. What’s the benefit of all this knowledge?) Again, I’m glad you asked! Here it is – when things seem hopeless, when things appear to have no answer, no meaning, no reason – be encouraged because goodness will prevail. Hope will prevail. Love will prevail. 1
Corinthians 13: 8Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we
prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. Love always
perseveres. Love never fails.
Can you now understand why Paul made these statements?
And the greatest example of love persevering through hopelessness is
found in the empty tomb. It appeared
to all that all hope was lost, Jesus was gone and death had won.
We so quickly forget that love never fails.
For on the third day, love persevered and rose from the grave in sweet
victory. And love will not fail us in the end for one day heaven will offer us a sanctuary in which evil will not be allowed. Revelation
21: Heaven will be a
place where the reality of love never failing and persevering comes to its
majesty. Nothing impure will be
allowed to enter it. Evil will fail
to exist! Follow the goodness
of God. Shun the evil of Satan.
God perseveres. Satan looses
it all.
Your Servant,
<*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< Prayer Requests (and Praises!) September
27 is the date of a Youth Pastor’s Conference in our area being administered
by Crossculture Ministries. Please
be in prayer about this conference for the purpose of lifting up area youth
pastors in order to better reach the youth of southern Please reply if you have prayer requests, comments or simply need an open ear. I always enjoy hearing from you. <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< Copyright © 2003 Truth Works Publishing. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise specified, all scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV.
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