If you were asked to give an example of something that you think is good, what would it be? Me? I would probably think of my favorite NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In my opinion, the best team in the league - the only team that managed to defeat the modern Kansas City Chiefs during the Superbowl. The term "it's good" is used in football when a field goal is successfully made. But typically, when people are asked to name something good, some would say their favorite food, and others might think of a video game. You might even think of something advantageous that happened, like remembering to bring your umbrella the one time it rains, or finding $20 in your coat from last winter.

You see, we often find ourselves confusing pleasure or convenience with goodness. A Christian's perspective is well expressed in James 1:17. It says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." This shows that the real answer would be anything that is from God. This means that something is only good (or meant for good, if you will) if God deems it so. We’ll get back to that in a second, but first I want to tell you two different stories about two very different people, C. S. Lewis and Paul the Missionary.

C. S. Lewis is one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century, but did you know he was extremely reluctant to even believe in God? Lewis lost his mother at a very early age, and in the aftermath, his father as well. This caused him to break away from Christianity and turn to atheism, where he remained for a long time. His conversion was slow and difficult, as he and his friends, who were also scholars, started to research Christianity. They discovered that the Bible is completely valid and began to convert, Lewis being among the last to do so. After he became a Christian, Lewis wrote some of the most famous Christian works, including the book Mere Christianity.

Paul’s story is quite different. Before he became Paul, he was Saul the Pharisee who would throw Christians in jail. He was so passionate about persecuting Christians, that he asked for permission to go to Damascus in order to arrest the Christians there, too (Acts 9:1-2). On the way, however, he was intercepted by Jesus who directly told him that he was meant to do something, that he was meant for good (Acts 9:5-6). Paul, as we all know, proceeded to become Paul the Missionary, who wrote the majority of the New Testament and lived his life for the sole purpose of serving God.

These two men had very different beginnings, but both stories ended in people who you wouldn’t have imagined converting to Christianity ending up doing great things for God. This tells us that no matter what you might have done in the past, and no matter what others think of you, God wants you to come to him, to have a good relationship with you, and because he has great things planned for you. Back to our earlier argument, about the fact that only God can determine if something is good. What if I told you that he already determined that you were good before you were even born? After each day of creation, back in Genesis 1, he calls everything he created that day good. Except one - when he creates man and then looks over what he created, he doesn’t just call it good, he calls it very good.

In conclusion, God, the only opinion that matters, loves you and has great plans for you. But first, you have to accept him and the goodness he offers.