God is Good

I say to God, “There is no good apart from You.” – Psalm 16:2 (adapted) 

Premarital counseling casefile #157: 

The bride-to-be was the daughter of a church member who hadn’t been to church “in a while.” The groom-to-be was a self-described atheist who seemed to enjoy revealing that to a person in the God business. They met at Harvard.  

Here’s the thing: after two decades of dialogue with atheists, I am convinced that very, very little separates theists and atheists. What separates the two is only an “a.”  

Or maybe an “o.” 

If you ask an atheist about their highest ideal or aspiration, as I did with the groom-to-be from Harvard, they might offer something like “doing good in the world,” which is exactly what he said. 

To which I said, “Then all that separates me and you is an O. You believe in G-O-O-D. I believe in G-O-D. Not that different!”   

He pursed his lips. I imagined he wanted to say something like: Good is a principle for God’s sake! That’s way different than believing a supreme being in the sky. But we had wedding planning to do. Instead, he breathed a good laugh, “Okay then!”  

Regardless, the ice was broken. It was smooth sailing from there.  

God is not a supreme being in the sky. According to the psalmist, God is wherever good is, or wherever there is the potential for good, because God is Good. 

Prayer
How good it is that none of our categories can define how truly good You are.

About the Author
Matt Laney is co-Pastor of Virginia Highland Church UCC in Atlanta, GA and the author of Pride Wars, a fantasy series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers. The first two books, The Spinner Prince and The Four Guardians are available now.