This week is the third week that we are looking at the attributes of God and today, we’re gonna take a look at God’s Holiness. I think sometimes we feel that we have to be perfect and holy—that we have to be worthy of God and worthy of Heaven. That, somehow, if we serve enough, if we love enough, if we’re kind enough, that we’ll be saved. While it is important to imitate Christ and show love and kindness to others, that isn’t what saves us.
Jesus Christ is perfect. He’s the only Man who will ever be perfect and the only One who ever was. God and Jesus are one in the same. God is holy and always has been. Everything He created is good and He can only do good. A lot of people may look at the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, and see the bad things that happened. They may even look at bad things going on today. Do any of these questions seem familiar?
If God is good, why do natural disasters happen?
If God is good, why did the pandemic happen?
If God is good, why does cancer exist, or other diseases?
If God is good, why do people die before their time?
If God is good, why did He wipe out the nations before Israel?
If God is good…why is life so full of evil?
Well, all of these questions can pretty much be summed up into one simple answer:
Sin.
When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, sin entered this perfect world that God created. God’s intention from the start was a perfect world. We were meant to walk with Him in His perfection and Holiness. But He didn’t want us to be following Him because we knew nothing else. Which was the reason why God allowed Satan to enter the scene. God could have gotten rid of Satan immediately. But He allowed Satan to tempt Eve and thus Adam.
Because Adam and Eve had to have the choice to either do good or do evil. They chose evil. It wasn’t just the forbidden fruit, though. It was the fact that they had disobeyed God.
“But that’s Adam and Eve. I shouldn’t be punished for the sins of my ancestor,” you may say.
Each and every time you and I chose to sin, whatever that sin may be, we are eating the forbidden fruit right alongside Adam and Eve.
When we chose sin, we are choosing it over God.
One day, God will bring all those who choose to follow Him into His perfect world once again. There will be no more disasters, diseases, sorrow, pain, pandemics, or wars. But until that day, we live in a fallen world. It isn’t just we humans that are fallen. Nature and the earth itself are fallen too, which is why you see disasters and diseases. The Bible says that nature cries out to God to be free.
God is holy and perfect. He is good—always has been and always will be. Evil things happen because evil exists. Satan and his demons work against God. They work against humans, to try to tear us away from God and to try to destroy us forever. One day, God will defeat them. But until then, Satan has been given free reign on earth. That’s unfortunate, but his time of defeat will come.
So, no matter what evil things happen, know that God is still holy. And He always turns evil into good. Look at Job in the Bible or Joseph. Bad things happened to them, but God turned it around for good.
In my book Forgotten, which is a prequel to Hunter, Book One in the Valiant Series, there is a short scene at the end where The Dark Master tempts Radon. This is a powerful scene that parallels with when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert. Not once did Jesus give into temptation and sin. The next time you’re tempted or you feel like you’ve sinned a lot, or you’re blaming God for something bad that happens, reflect on Jesus being tempted. It was a low point for Him—He was starving in the desert for 40 days, probably thirsty and Satan tempts Him three times, once to make bread and eat it.
I challenge you today: try to look back at a bad thing that happened in your life. Now, try to see any good that God brought out of it. If you can’t see any, pray to God and ask Him to show you the good that He can bring out of it. Reflect on a Bible story where something bad happened and God brought good out of it. Job, Joseph, and Esther are three really good starting points. Jesus’ story is another one.
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