God and Good

GOD ALONE KNOWS WHAT IS GOOD.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Genesis 1:1-12.

Verse of the Day: “No one is good-except God alone” (Mark 10:18, NIV).

“Dathan, would you like some of Mommy’s eggs?” Mom asked her two-year-old.

“Don’t like eggs,” Dathan said. He sat at the breakfast table with his mother, father, and sister, Carlene.

“Would you like some of Mommy’s sausage?” Mom asked.

“Don’t like saufage,” Dathan answered.

“It’s really good, Dathan,” Dad said. He spooned a bite of eggs into his mouth and chewed, smiling and wiggling his eyebrows.

“No! Don’t like saufage!” Dathan insisted.

“All right, then,” Mom suggested, “why don’t you have a bite of Daddy’s toast?”

“Don’t like toast,” Dathan said.

“You don’t like anything this morning, do you?” Mom said. “You just don’t know what’s good,” Dad teased.

“Of course not,” said Carlene matter-of-factly. “Nobody does, except God.”

Mom and Dad stopped chewing and turned to look at Carlene. Her comment surprised them.

“It’s true,” Carlene said confidently. “Only God knows what’s good. Right, Dad?”

“Yes,” Dad answered slowly. “You’re right, Carlene. We may agree or disagree with what God says is good, but ultimately he’s the only one who knows what is good and what is bad.”

“We just need to listen to him and follow what he says is good,” Mom added.

“Does that mean Dathan has to like eggs and sausage?” Carlene asked.

Dad chuckled. “Well, Dathan’s allowed to decide whether he thinks eggs and sausage taste good. That’s called ‘taste’ or ‘opinion.’ But when it comes to moral decisions—right and wrong—none of us are allowed to decide what’s good or bad. Only God can decide that.”

TO DISCUSS: What’s the difference between taste (or opinion) and right or wrong? Are you allowed to decide what foods taste good? Are you allowed to decide what’s right or wrong? What’s the difference?

TO PRAY: “God, remind us that only you can decide what’s good or bad, right or wrong. Help us to agree with you and follow what you say is good.”