A simple statement of faith

My daily Scripture reflection today reminded me of this simple statement of faith:

God is Good!  All the time!

And all the time, God is Good! 

Several times during this last school year (obviously before pandemic guidelines that closed the schools for in-person classes took place), I was privileged to sit in on some of Lily’s classes as a “Watch Dog”.  Watch Dogs is a group of ‘Dads Of Great Students’, but granddads were invited, too.  Basically our duties were those of hall monitors and playground supervisors.  We were assigned to help various teachers who wanted or needed our help, as well, usually the teacher of the ‘DOG’s student.

As fifth grade classes tend to do, Lily’s got a little noisy at times when it was supposed to be ‘quiet time’ for reading, studying, or simply listening for God’s “small whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).  When the noise got out of hand Lily’s teacher would say in a loud voice, “God is Good!”, to which the students would reply, “All the time!”  Then she would follow that up with “And all the time!”, and the students came back with “God is Good!” 

Once the kids had a chance to renew their faith commitment in this manner, they would all settle down and listen to the teacher.

God blesses us with this gift of faith as well.  God blessed the Shunammite woman because of her faith and generosity toward the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a).  In Paul’s letter to the Romans (6:3-4, 8-11), we’re reminded once again that our earthly lives don’t end in death, rather we’re given new life in Christ and will suffer no more.

To understand more fully the message of the Gospel from Matthew I’m reflecting on today (Matthew 10:37-42), it’s important to know that the chapter preceding this one was where Jesus was sending out the disciples to do the work He had called and prepared them to do, which was to preach the good news of salvation. This is a pretty daunting mission!  One that we’re all being called to yet today!  Isn’t it an amazing gift for God to trust us so much with the good news that we’re given the holy task of representing God to others?

Jesus reminds us that this call to discipleship challenges us to make His mission paramount in our lives.  Fulfilling the mission of Jesus Christ requires that we detach from those things that keep us from being good and focus on living the new life we have been given at Baptism, sharing the good news with others.