Badness is Only Spoiled Goodness (Psalm 31 Devotional)
“I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in your lovingkindness.” – Psalm 31:6-7
Luther once said that all the law was contained in the first commandment, “You shall have no other Gods before me.” It was the first commandment, and it is a theme we see over and over throughout scripture. Why was this so important to God? It, in many ways, speaks to the very nature of our fallenness and sin. The core of all sin is making something other than God into a god. And the method of sin is to pervert.
Sin, in and of itself, has no creative power. It must take what God has created for good and twist it into something ugly. As C.S. Lewis once said, “Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness. And there must be something good first before it can be spoiled.”
In 2012, Cecilia Giménez noticed that a fresco of Jesus Christ at her local parish was damaged. It was a beautiful and priceless work of art. She offered to restore the painting to its original state. But unfortunately, she was a charlatan who did not have the necessary skill to do the restoration. She claimed one thing but delivered another.
When she completed the priceless portrait, it was completely destroyed. Jesus looked like a bad children’s painting - distorted and unrecognizable.
That is precisely how sin works.
It takes something beautiful that God made, and with a deceitful promise to make it better, turns it into something grotesque. Whether sex, power, possessions, security, family, or even worship, sin desires to take things God has given us that are good, and pervert them into something awful.
How does it do this? Often by causing us to enthrone good things God created above God Himself.
We’ve all seen the woman who loves her children so much that she spoils them rotten. We see people gain positions of power to do good and love the power so much that it corrupts them, and they use it for evil. We see people who allow their possessions to possess them and live in a constant state of greed and fear. We turn something of beauty into a distorted visage of its original intent by elevating it beyond what it was intended to be.
The Bible calls that idolatry. When we instead recognize God is enthroned above all these things; we can rightly enjoy them. When they are in their proper place, at the foot of the Throne of Grace, we can then see them for what they really are - gifts from our Father Who loves us. And we can both enjoy the gifts and rejoice in the Giver.
Questions for Thought:
What are some of the good things God has given you?
How could you be tempted into allowing them to be idols?
How can you avoid that from happening?
