And That Was Good

I’m not one to dive head-long into anything new. I worked around automobiles long enough to know that the only way to truly find out if a product is good or not is to give it to the good-ole American public to use and abuse. If it survives, it’s a miracle. If engineers can improve on it and continue to sell it at a profit for several years, it gains my attention. Well, it took forever to get me into the computer age and now I don’t know what I’d do without one, or two, or three. I’m now about to embark on the cell phone scene. I’ve been avoiding it in fear of how I see the way that little communicator can dominate and overpower every aspect of life. One good thing I think I can see in it. Now I’ll be able to find my wife faster in the super shopping centers. Just call her up!
My growing-up-years were in the Fifties and Sixties. The “baby-boomers” are getting old enough that our childhood days are jokes of Comedians, our grandkids snicker at our stories and twenty-something’s shudder and say, “Eeeew!” But our childhood really wasn’t that bad. In 1953 the U.S. population was less than 150 million …yet you knew more people then, and knew them better …and that was good. The average annual salary was less than $3000 …yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life …and that was good. A loaf of bread cost about 15¢ …but it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one …and that was good. Prime-Time meant “I Love Lucy”, “Ozzie and Harriet”, “Gunsmoke” and “Lassie”, and nobody ever heard of ratings or filters …and that was good. We didn’t have air conditioning, so the windows stayed up all summer and a half dozen mothers came running when you fell off your bike …and that was good. We addressed our teachers as Miss Matthews, or Mrs. Adkins, or Mr. Logan, not Ms. Becky or Mr. Dan …and that was good. The only hazardous material you knew about was the grass burrs growing around the light pole at the corner …and that was good. You loved to climb into a fresh bed because sheets were dried on the clothesline …and that was good. People generally lived in the same town as their closest relatives, so childcare meant grandparents or aunts and uncles …and that was good. Parents were respected and their rules were law …children didn’t talk back …and that was good. TV was in black-and-white, but all outdoors was in glorious color …and that was certainly good. Your dad knew how to adjust everybody’s carburetor, and the dad next door knew how to adjust all the knobs on the TV set …and that was very good. Your grandma grew snap beans and raised chickens out back of the garage …and that was definitely good. And just about the time you were about to do something bad, chances were you would be observed by someone who knew your name and your father’s phone number …and even that was good. Our childhood even felt good.
[Matthew 19: 16-17; Romans 3] What we perceive to be good is no doubt what makes us feel good. In truth we are all sinners and only God is good. Goodness and being good is a large subject in the New Testament of the Bible. The Apostles teachings have very little to do with doctrine of the church and everything to do with daily living. Study, and you’ll conclude that the only way you can even come close to being good, is to live a life in obedience to God’s law, through faith in Jesus Christ. A faithful baptized believer will be a good servant, and his master will be well pleased with his good works.