Seek Good

“Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so shall the Lord, the God of hosts, be with you, as you say.” Amos 5:14

It seems like the simplest thing. To stop and consider the question, “What would make a better world?” Wouldn’t we all answer with something like, “People doing the right thing in every circumstance, as much as is possible.” I know that people may disagree over what may be the “right” thing in some circumstances, but those differences don’t seem to be the chief source of our world’s ills.

We have all heard the stories about crowds watching while someone is beaten, or a woman having her purse snatched, and not moving to help. Transfixed by the scene, they are almost mesmerized into a frozen helplessness. But, if you were to poll the same people beforehand, asking them how important it is to help people we see who are in danger, I am farily certain most would answer in the affirmative.

So, what gives? This may sound totally incongruous, but I was thinking about food this afternoon. My wife made a new chili recipe with chicken as the primary protein, along with white beans. Today at lunch I found myself thinking how darn good those beans were cooked. They were just barely solid, not hard and crunchy or soft and mushy. There was just this tiny pop of yumminess with each bean bite.

That lead me to realize I never thought about texture when I was a child. Oh, there were the few foods I disliked simply because they were mushy; oatmeal and canned peas, for instance. But I don’t remember ever thinking, “Wow, these beans are cooked perfectly”. I may have liked the flavor of the chili, but that was the extent of my culinary critique.

The dishes I grew up with were what Mom cooked, and what Mom cooked was my measure for “good or bad”. We seldom ate expensive cuts of meat, and even used the dreaded powdered milk to drink. “Preacher steak” was fried bologna. And, the few times we had steak I couldn’t figure out why people liked it. As an adult I finally realized my parents could only afford the cheapest cut of steak, and, unless cooked to perfection, they are just pretty darn hard to eat.

That all leads me to this thought about “seeking good”. Although, on the one hand we may say most of us do know the basics about “goodness”, at the same time, our primary “tastes” for how you function in life are formed early within the framework of our childhood family. If pushiness and loud voices were the norm, it may take us an entire adulthood to find a more pleasant way of living.

So, perhaps the idea of “seeking” good isn’t so far off after all. Scripture makes it clear that we all start off with the pull of a sinful nature that seeks to satisfy its own desires first. Add to that whatever dysfunction we experienced growing up (believe me, every family has some cracks in its foundation walls), and it is not difficult to see the struggle we have to actually make an effort at “goodness”.

God’s measure of goodness isn’t simply being “nice” people, although with some folks, that might make laudable beginning. Seeking good is an active decision. Wasting our time defending our current behavior, if contradictory to true goodness, only allows our prejudices and self-serving ways to strengthen their grasp upon us.

But, as God promises, if we actively seek goodness, something important happens; “the Lord, the God of hosts (shall) be with you.” The simplest effort of turning away from my learned behaviors and seeking the best instead brings God directly on the scene. That is what keeps me going, for it seems some things are deeply ingrained, and I would become agonizingly frustrated if not for the knowledge that God is working within me for my good.

God wants people, His church, not just individuals, to be in the forefront of “seeking good”.  God is not talking simply to individuals; He is speaking to His nation Israel, and by extension, to His church. God wants the church itself to be constantly assessing, “Are we seeking good? Are we evaluating our own corporate life to see if we are throwing off prejudices and taking on the pattern of God’s goodness?”

Hmm…all that from a bit of chicken chili. I do pray my spiritual palate will become more and more sensitive too, discerning what truly is good, and acting upon that daily in my life.