Nothing Better: Part 1 (2)
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. Genesis 1.31
The need to answer
We have said that the most important question anyone can ask is “What is the greatest good I can do in this life?” By the “greatest good” we mean that thing or that way of life than which nothing is “better.” There is nothing better for us than to do the greatest good we can do in this life. So it would seem to be important that we make a serious and perhaps ongoing effort to know what that “greatest good” might be.
Everyone wants to do good, except a few really bent people, I suppose. And even they would argue that their wicked and selfish behavior seems “good” to them. But it’s possible that many people haven’t really thought about this question, haven’t decided on some form of ultimate good that they hope to realize or do. Either they are content with the way things are in their lives, or they don’t believe anything much can be gained by settling on an answer to this question, or the question frankly has never crossed their minds.
And I suspect that most people who have thought about this question are satisfied with some form of “good enough for me” as their position. But, as we have suggested, no society can survive when everyone does what is right in their own eyes, when every individual, in effect, claims to have a corner on the market of what is “good.”
So it is very important that each of us seek the best possible answer to this question.
But what if we don’t?
Left unanswered
Suppose we’re content not to answer this question, for whatever reason. Suppose you say to yourself, “This is not for me. I don’t have time for this. I’m doing OK, even though I’ve never really thought about this question. I’ll be all right.” Where does that leave you?
Well, for one, you could end up subject to other people’s agenda. Energetic, productive people have an agenda. People who have already answered this question—however they have answered it—are busy about trying to achieve what they consider to be good. They have decided this question, and that means if you haven’t resolved this for yourself, you might find yourself a cog in someone else’s wheel, doing what they think is the greatest good for them. And when they’re done with you?
Worse, we might even find ourselves too easily swayed by that one who tends to begin his every conversation with some version of “Yea, hath God said….?”
If we haven’t answered this most important question, we could also find ourselves adrift in life, grasping at straws to make sense of our lives or find a little relief from the daily drudge. You’re busy, lots of responsibilities and things to do, plenty of friends to hang with, or whatever. You don’t have time for “big questions” or ponderous discussions about what’s the greatest good you could do in this life. You’re OK where you are. For now.
If that’s the case, then you might find yourself adrift in the world, uncertain about or struggling with your job, your marriage, even your faith. You try to do whatever comes your way, but you don’t really know why. It just seems like the thing to do for that moment, so you do it.
And then you die.
So perhaps it’s best if we decide we’re going to face this question—What is the greatest good I can do in this life?—and wrestle it to the ground. But how will you define “good”? If you’re a Christian, you don’t have to look too far to begin cobbling together an answer to this most important question.
God and “good”
To answer the question of what is the greatest good we can do, we need a standard beyond mere individual ideas or desires, a standard which, if we can discover it, might help us all get on the same page and pull together for a truly good end.
This is what God intended for people and the world from the very beginning. Having completed His work of creation, God described it as “very good.” Just what He intended. God has an idea about “good”, and that being the case, it behooves us to consider carefully what His idea might entail. For as we have already seen, we have been created in His own image and likeness. That means that human beings are not only created with an inbuilt sense of “good”, but we are made to know what is good and to do it.
But that takes learning. And effort. Otherwise we’ll just lapse into a “good enough for me” lifestyle, and as we saw in Proverbs 16.25, when people determine to pursue their own ideas about what is good, things don’t go all that well. The world is in the mess it is because, for centuries, people, having an idea about “good”, have been arguing and scheming and fighting about what is the greatest good any of us should do in this life. God has given us a standard for determining what’s good, but far too many people like the idea of “good”, they just don’t like God’s standard.
But “good” is not only what God intended for humans from the beginning; it’s what He intended in sending His Son, Jesus, to save a people for Himself (Eph. 2.8-10; Tit. 2.11-13). He intends us to know what is good and to do it.
Search the Scriptures
1. Meditate on Genesis 1.31. What did God see that lead Him to this observation?2. How does knowing the “greatest good” relate to doing good works? Which must come first?
3. Where do the people you know go to find an answer to this most important question?
Next steps—Conversation: Talk with a Christian friend about this question. What did you learn?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Solomon will be our source for answering this question in this brief study. Our book, Comparatio, can help you understand Solomon’s musings in the book of Ecclesiastes. Learn more and order your own free copy by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
