It Was Good

TO BE GOOD IS TO BE LIKE GOD.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Genesis 1:14-25.

Verse of the Day: “They raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever’” (2 Chronicles 5:13, NIV).

Tasha ran into the cabin so fast that she nearly tripped and fell. “Look what I caught!” she said.

She ran to Rebecca, her counselor at Camp Wonderlake, and gingerly opened her cupped hands.

“A butterfly!” Rebecca said. “It’s beautiful, Tasha. Where did you catch it?”

“By the creek.” She opened her hands a little wider so she and Rebecca could study the vivid colors and intricate designs of the butterfly’s wings.

“Isn’t God’s creation incredible?” Rebecca whispered. “Just look at how perfect it looks.”

“Yeah,” Tasha cooed. “It sure is.”

Rebecca grabbed her Bible off the table beside her cot and turned to the first chapter of Genesis. “Can I read you something from the Bible?” she asked.

“Sure,” said Tasha, still gazing at the butterfly.

Rebecca began reading the Creation account from the Bible, pausing every time she read the words, “And God saw that it was good.” When she finished, she closed the Bible and said to Tasha, “When God created this world—all the mountains and oceans, and trees, and animals-he said it was good.”

“It is,” Tasha said.

“Yeah,” answered Rebecca. “But what does that mean?”

Tasha threw a look of confusion at Rebecca.

“See, Tasha, when God created the heavens and the earth, the only standard for good that existed was God himself. So when he called his creation ‘good,’ he was saying it reflected his own goodness, because there was nothing else to compare it to.”

“So,” Tasha began, looking back and forth between Rebecca and the butterfly, “when we say something is good, we’re saying … we’re saying … it’s like God?”

“Yes!” Rebecca cried. “That’s right. To be good is to reflect God’s nature. That’s what ‘good’ means.”

Tasha nodded slowly. She smiled at Rebecca. “That’s good,” she said. “That’s good.”

TO DISCUSS: Six times in the first twenty-six verses of Genesis 1, God calls his creation “good.” Why do you think he said this word six times?

TO PRAY: “God, we acknowledge that you are the only standard of good that exists. Help us not to rely on our own opinions when we need to make moral choices.”