The Creation account in Genesis 1:3-4 reads, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good…”
During the second day of Creation, God creates the sky. The third day of Creation God creates land, seas, and vegetation. The third day concludes with what is beginning to become a familiar chorus line to this poem of Creation: “and God saw that is was good.” (Genesis 1:10b)
Not quite half way through we see that a major theme of this unfolding story is focused on God’s perspective of what is good. Not wanting us to miss the point, the chorus is repeated a few more times.
On the fourth day of Creation God creates the sun, moon, stars, “and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:18b)
The fifth day God creates sea creatures, sky creatures, “and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:21b)
On the sixth day God creates land creatures, “and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25b)
The Creation account climaxes when God creates male and female in His own image, and the chorus hits its crescendo: “God saw all that He had made and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31a)
Without understanding this emphasis on God’s perspective of “good,” the real tragedy of the fall of man is missed. Notice the name of the tree which man is warned to avoid: “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’ ” (Genesis 2:16-17)
At this point in the story, we only have God’s perspective of what is “good.” However, the temptation begins when “the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food…” (Genesis 3:6a) What happens when you have 6 billion competing perspectives of what is “good”? Quite literally, all Hell breaks loose.
We live in a world where people think it is “good" to:
• auction off the virginity of little girls
• crash planes full of fuel into buildings full of people
• horde food while others starve
• protect their own comfort by remaining ignorant of others' suffering
God has not left us in the mess we have created. He sent Jesus “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) He sent Jesus to preach the “good news of the kingdom of God.” (Luke 4:43) The good news of Jesus is that we can be set free of our perspective of good. Through Jesus we can surrender our lives to live for “God’s will – his good pleasing a perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)
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