Article July 17, 1995 Issue

Too good to be true? Never!

E. Ward Thomas, Jr.

Many people, when they hear of something good that could be coming their way, actually begin to worry that it won't happen because they think it is too good to be true. The Bible presents a very different view of good. The opening chapter shows that everything God made is good, like Him, and that He made everything that was made. This inspired chapter of Genesis repeats the thought six times, tying it all together by stating, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (verse 31). So nothing God made could be too good to be true. Everything He made is real, substantial, strong, full of life, and enduring. And since man reflects God, the very nature of his being already includes only good.

There is a divine law guaranteeing our right to deny the "too good to be true" lie. It's the First Commandment, which tells us to have no other gods but the one true God. Allowing anything into our thinking to undermine our trust in good is a form of disobedience to the First Commandment. It is having more than one God because it accepts the existence of evil as another power. The insidious suggestion that what is good in events or relationships is likely to fall apart or be lost is not a truism, but a suggestion of the carnal mind, which Paul said "is enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7).

It's important, however, to examine what we are thinking of as good. The material gee-wizardry of the world's fascination with its supposed technical prowess, the tantalizing allurements of sensuality, the age-old suggestion that money will make us happy—these are not really good. They do not have the substance of Spirit. They are not of God and not lasting. As the book of Isaiah puts it, "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." It continues, "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but word of our God shall stand for ever" (40:6, 8).

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