Goodness and godliness

Many of us know the story of the Titanic ship sinking in the North Atlantic.  But for those of us who can recall, a newspaper carried two pictures side by side after the tragedy occurred.  The first picture showed the Titanic ripped by the side after it hit the iceberg.

The caption of the picture read “The weakness of man, the supremacy of nature”.  The other picture showed a passenger giving his place in a life-boat to a woman carrying her little baby in her arms.  The caption read “The weakness of nature, the supremacy of man”, manifesting the extent to which human kindness can extend.

Our Godliness (Faith) should lead us to believe and feel that God holds us in His arms even in the grave situations in life.  He never leads us or abandons us.  When we realize and cherish this goodness of God towards us, we manifest that goodness to others.

Jesus himself reassures "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke and learn from me.” (Mathew 11:28).  Jesus was from a builder’s background (in Greek-Teknon) which included even carpentry work.  An ancient story holds that Jesus probably made wooden yokes for the oxen and made sure they were harmless and gentle upon the oxen, which is why he said “take my yoke and learn from me”. 

John Newton, a slave trader in the 1700s experienced the compassion of God when one night a violent storm tossed his slave ship.  He panicked and cried out to God “If you see us safely through this storm, I will stop this slave-trade and become your slave”. The storm went calm and the ship survived.  Newton kept his promise. He discovered that there was goodness in him when he experienced the goodness of God upon him. He later became a preacher, pronouncing the love and compassion of God.  He penned a song that is today, one of the most popular song sung in churches.  The opening verse reads: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, now am found, was blind but now I see….” 

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, reminds us of our weakness and failures “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23). But God in his goodness overlooks our sinfulness and breathes forgiveness upon us like he did upon John Newton.  When we cherish this forgiveness, we become torchbearers of love wherever we go.