What's happened to good?

Good is not as good as it used to be. Because of its now uncertain status , a passage like this is not as striking as it should be:

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

It doesn't say to give thanks because he is Almighty; or because he is All Powerful; or because he is Awesome. He is all of those things, but ...

It simply says to give thanks ... because he is good.

The lexicon tells us that the Hebrew word, among other things, means pleasant and agreeable to the senses; it means valuable in estimation, appropriate and becoming; it means prosperity and welfare; it means moral good. And so:

When God created light, He saw that it was good. When He created the earth and the seas, He saw it was good.

Light. The Sea and the Earth. Pleasing to the senses, valuable, appropriate, morally good.

But tell a student these days that her performance was -- well, that it was good -- and you may have some explaining to do.

Just good??? What, are you some kind of hatchet man? It wasn't just good. It was Great. It was Excellent. It was Tremendous. It deserved an Achievement Award. And so on. But ... just good?

I suggest that, when a culture devalues good, when good has lost its saltiness -- and salt preserves; it gives taste; it has medicinal value; it even prevents slipping on ice -- when good has lost its saltiness in a culture, that culture has lost the ballast of its moral compass.

It no longer recognizes what is pleasant and what is agreeable to the senses; it loses a grip on what is truly valuable, what is appropriate and becoming.

So when evil comes along, it is not recognized as such. It might even be mistaken for good.

Logos2Go

Psalm 118.1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Genesis 1.3-4 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1.10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

Isaiah 5.20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.