Whether in your own homes or elsewhere, many of you can remember hearing a simple prayer at meal times. From earliest childhood you may recall someone reciting this, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food; by His hands we are fed, thank you Lord for daily bread.” As I grew older, particularly after salvation, I learned more and more of the goodness of God. Someone told me as a little boy, “Always be good, and one day you will go to heaven.”  However, I came to realize at the age of 17, that a person cannot be saved by being good. We as humans have no goodness. All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of a Holy God. Jesus said that He did not come to save the righteous but He came to seek and to save that which is lost. Jesus also said, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick,” Matthew 9:12 (KJV).

     Now, in these later years, I have come to realize more and more that God is a good God, whether He ever expresses that goodness to me or not. Goodness is an intrinsic part of the make-up of our God! He is so good, loving, full of grace and mercy. So I want to be sure to praise God for his goodness at every opportunity. I leave you now with this verse from the book of Romans 2:4 (KJV), “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”