How Does God Define Good?

Romans 8:28 We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

When considering what we experience in this life and looking for the "good" that it leads to, we sometimes wonder about God’s definition of “good”. Is God’s understanding of what is “good” so radically different from mine that I won’t recognize “good” until I get to heaven and look back from His perspective?

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus assures us that our definitions are just like God’s. Enjoying Luxury is called “good”. Suffering lack is defined as “bad”. It is simply that Lazarus did not get to enjoy “good” until he experienced the “good” of heaven.

Luke 16:25 Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

What Romans 8:28 assures us is that all the bad things believers suffer, somehow work for our good. In the case of Lazarus, the bad things caused him to long for and look for a “better country” (Heb 11:6) a better world to come, while the one who indulged in luxury in this life, was blinded to his need for anything else.

Mark 4:19 says, “The deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

The “word” says that bad you receive can cause you to hope for heaven and that that hope can become a greater and greater certainty. And that is good.

Romans 5:3-5 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.

That will be good.

*Saint’s note*
Just small questions of reflection, without suffering, are we really human? Without suffering, can we develop integrity or a solid moralistic understanding of what’s right and wrong? I think that God allowed sin/wrongdoing/suffering in the world not only to punish Adam and Eve for their sins, but so that we might be wronged (i.e. stolen from, lied to, hurt emotionally etc.) to realize how immoral those acts are, and not let those sins into our lives. And because of that, we know pain, and will not (most of the time) pass that suffering onto other people, simply because we know what its like.
Ps. a little introduction is in order; I'm planning on doing a small side note not unlike this one in addition to the actual blog, written by Andy. Sometimes it might be a question to ponder, other times it might be…something else I haven’t decided on. God bless