Everything that was created by God is good. How do we know? Because in Genesis whatever He created, he saw that it was good. Here he was, telling his flock of angels, ‘This is good. You have my Word.’ And from that time forth, anything that served to promote and expand what God created is good as well.
Nobody else created what God created; not Satan, and not those who have committed themselves to destroying what God created and what He stands for.
And early on, God made Himself to be a leader of us; a leader who is not a despot, not someone who feeds off of self-adulation. He may be a jealous God, as he says in Exodus 34:14, but for Him the worshipping part is a secondary concern that follows His love for us. He expects us to worship him as a way of our giving thanks to Him who gave us life and a place to live. What He asks is to do good as He would do good, for under Him, goodness is not something that can be described, rather it’s learned by example.
God has provided us with many examples of goodness. The Bible tells us about many instances in which God steers people in the right direction by rewarding those who do good, including Abraham and Solomon. They are the epitome of the rewards a mortal person can receive from God. One could put Job in that class too, since he was “an upright man who fears God and turns away from evil”.as God describes him in Job 1:8.
So in that sense, God leads by example. One of the best-known ways God leads by example is the Sabbath. In genesis, after God created what He did in six days, he rested on the seventh day. He expects us to do the same on our seventh day. It is one of His Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:8–11 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Is there a better example than the Lord’s leading by example? Notice that the Lord expects those who make the Sabbath day holy in this fashion expect those who have immediate proximity to make the Sabbath day holy as well. Also notice that within that Commandment, God doesn’t expect you to spend the day fawning over Him. Looking at it one way, God on the seventh day didn’t fawn over another being, so, by example, He doesn’t expect you to fawn over Him, although you can do so if you wish. There’s also nothing stopping you from acknowledging him in varying degrees up to expressing your gratitude to him and continuing to do good things. As you can see, He is a jealous God, but His Jealousy is only apparent if you turn away from Him.
Oh, and did I mention that Commandment is found in the Torah, a scroll in which certain members of the clergy say we can ignore? That doesn’t sound too good, particularly when 2 Timothy 3:16 says “ALL Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Nobody else created what God created; not Satan, and not those who have committed themselves to destroying what God created and what He stands for.
And early on, God made Himself to be a leader of us; a leader who is not a despot, not someone who feeds off of self-adulation. He may be a jealous God, as he says in Exodus 34:14, but for Him the worshipping part is a secondary concern that follows His love for us. He expects us to worship him as a way of our giving thanks to Him who gave us life and a place to live. What He asks is to do good as He would do good, for under Him, goodness is not something that can be described, rather it’s learned by example.
God has provided us with many examples of goodness. The Bible tells us about many instances in which God steers people in the right direction by rewarding those who do good, including Abraham and Solomon. They are the epitome of the rewards a mortal person can receive from God. One could put Job in that class too, since he was “an upright man who fears God and turns away from evil”.as God describes him in Job 1:8.
So in that sense, God leads by example. One of the best-known ways God leads by example is the Sabbath. In genesis, after God created what He did in six days, he rested on the seventh day. He expects us to do the same on our seventh day. It is one of His Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:8–11 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Is there a better example than the Lord’s leading by example? Notice that the Lord expects those who make the Sabbath day holy in this fashion expect those who have immediate proximity to make the Sabbath day holy as well. Also notice that within that Commandment, God doesn’t expect you to spend the day fawning over Him. Looking at it one way, God on the seventh day didn’t fawn over another being, so, by example, He doesn’t expect you to fawn over Him, although you can do so if you wish. There’s also nothing stopping you from acknowledging him in varying degrees up to expressing your gratitude to him and continuing to do good things. As you can see, He is a jealous God, but His Jealousy is only apparent if you turn away from Him.
Oh, and did I mention that Commandment is found in the Torah, a scroll in which certain members of the clergy say we can ignore? That doesn’t sound too good, particularly when 2 Timothy 3:16 says “ALL Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
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