God good, Devil bad

God good, Devil bad. This is something I have always essentially known, but it took simplifying it to a preschool level for me to really get it. Literally, I learned this lesson in a preschool room when I was much older than preschool age.

I was actually learning to be a preschool teacher at my church and one of the preschool teachers named Amber got asked to teach at the last minute and didn't have a prepared lesson. She, therefore, taught the kids to understand and say "God good, Devil bad." On that Sunday morning, I really started to "get it".

This is also something that not everybody does get. If everybody did get this, we would not have insurance companies calling the destruction of people's home acts of God. We would not have people saying that God took a person's life. We would not have people saying that being impoverished may be a blessing in disguise or that God may be trying to teach us something.

I know that saying this may be twisting or even putting a hole in some peoples doctrines. My pastor likes to say that if you are going to create a doctrine, you should find 2 or 3 scriptures that support it, and that they preferably be from the new testament, so let's take a look.

We see in James 1:17 that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

I'll take a tangent on this one here and point out that not only is God good, but he doesn't change. We can see this not only here, but also in Hebrew's 13:8 that says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Let's continue to look at James 1:17 a moment. One word that really sticks out to me in this verse is the word every. I'm a very logical person and have taken some college level classes on the topic. In a logical proof, the word every means that there is nothing being left out or nothing left over. This essentially means that if it is good, it cannot come from any other source but God.

Let's now look at John 10:10 that states "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full"(NIV) I also really like the 2nd part of this verse in the New Living Translation that says (My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

I'd like to put this verse in context for those unfamiliar with this part of scripture, however, I would also encourage you as the reader to study this out in your own Bible as well. Jesus often told parables, or stories, to illustrate his points. In this parable, he uses a sheepfold, a gatekeeper, and a thief to illustrate his point. Jesus Christ is the gatekeeper in this parable through which you come into and out of the sheepfold. The thief is actually not the devil in this parable, but more a false teacher that comes into the sheepfold to steal away the sheep. The sheepfold is actually the local church as Jesus speaks of how there are many other sheepfolds. The word only in this verse indicates that there is nothing else that the thief does. He uses different methods to accomplish this, but the goals are always the same.

Finally, I'll take you over to 1 Peter 5:8 in the Amplified Bible that says "Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring[in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour."

Later, I'd like to write a post that speaks about some of the tools that God gives us to defend against Satan and his devices that according to 2nd Corinthians 11:2, we are not to be ignorant of. I'd also like to write a post of some of the tools that are available to study the Bible.

For now, I would like to come back to the way I started this post. God good, devil bad. If it is good like honest money, a good job, food available to eat, a happy family, it is from God. If it is bad like not having enough money, strife in a family, crime, pain, agony, defeat, it is from the devil.

Can there be choices between good things like which job to take and one not be the right choice? Absolutely, and that is where listening to the Holy Spirit comes in. But that is for another post.