God is Good: God is Holy.

When we look at the character and nature of who God is, we see that He is both profoundly good and exquisitely holy. So the question is, how do these attributes of God’s nature influence how we think out and live a Christian World-view?

It may be helpful to begin with the idea of understanding what a world-view actually is and how it relates to the millions of thoughts that constantly run through our minds. James Sire in his work titled The Universe Next Door describes world-view as follows. “A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of  assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false which we hold consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently about the basic constitution of reality. And that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being.”

To unpack this concept further, it is interesting to note that a person can be only partially right about something. Their worldview may be on track to be correct, but they are not quite there completely yet. This means  that a worldview is not static, it is dynamic in nature. That is why it is important for us to be disciples of Jesus. We learn and study the word of God in order to refine our worldview or theological understanding. This process takes place at lightning speed in our minds on a daily basis.

It is within this context that our understanding of God’s goodness and holiness becomes more and more relevant to our lives. The presence of the Holy Spirit that resides within us teaches and guides us into magnifying the Lord. We develop a deep conviction that God’s grace is to be honored and exalted.

God is Good all of the time, all of the time God is Good.

Humanity longs for justice; God provides it perfectly in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus! This is the good news of the gospel, past present and future.  It is more about Him, than it is about us. Our culture is so focused on self-esteem at the high price of devaluing God’s goodness. Bruce Ware in his book titled God’s Greater Glory states “We stand in need of beholding God for who He is. We need desperately to be humbled and amazed at the infinite splendor of His unrivaled Greatness and the unspeakable wealth of His lavish Goodness. We must marvel at His blinding Glory and fall astonished at His benevolent grace.”

God is Holy all of the time, all of the time God is Holy.

There are two distinct attributes to the word holy. One meaning is to be set apart from others, the other meaning concerns moral character. Again, Jesus is our perfect role model and the Holy Spirit brings meaning to both of these traits of God’s capacity.

Concerning being set apart, there is no other like God. Our post Christian culture tries to elevate humanity to this place of equality or even superiority to the trinity. This is truly laughable. God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, eternally existing outside of time and space. He has no rivals.

Concerning moral character, Sire elegantly describes, “God’s goodness means that there is an absolute standard of righteousness found in His character and this means that there is hope for humanity because God is love and will not abandon His creation.” God is pure light and in Him there is no darkness at all.