What is a good thing?

Human understanding of a good thing as something that is expressly positive and directly adds to happiness is not necessarily wrong but incomplete. It in incomplete in the sense that it only takes into account natural factors that affect human life while omitting the more important spiritual forces that are also play in human life.
Now let us first of all establish the source of good things before we can definitely know what thing is good.
The deduction here is that a good should proceed from a good source. Thus good should beget good, and evil begets evil.
 Jesus illustrated it very well when he said that the same well of water cannot give both fresh and bitter water and neither can a good tree bear evil fruits. The source of all good things is God only. Luke 18:19 says, “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that is, God.”
 Jesus Christ made it abundantly clear here that only God is good and none else. Furthermore, James 1:16,17 clearly shows us that God is the source of good things. It reads, “Do not err my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
If you are not yet satisfied then Psalms 84;11 should be able to wipe away all your doubts, “For the Lord is a sun and a shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
If the source of all good and perfect things is God it therefore should not be hard to understand that God is the best being to define what a good thing is. And if God does not err or commit sin then all He gives or does should always be good. In actuality, in the spirit realm or in God’s mind all things are good even though in our natural realm we entertain the idea of duality. According to God there is nothing good in the world and that is why He tells not to love the world and everything in it. Those who love, obey and pursue God’s purposes are good since, even though they are in the world, they are not of this world and are seated in the heavenly places together with Christ. If those who love God are good then it is for them that in all things God works for their good. They have died to evil things. You may want to argue, “But things like death bring sorrow and how can they possibly be good? Good question. But God tells us to mourn with hope because greater good will come at the close of the age especially to those who die in Christ. From a natural point of view sorrow is bad but spiritually speaking, God can work through anything; terrible events, sorrow, trials, and tribulations to produce a proven character or the likeness of Jesus Christ (See Romans 5:3-5).
God works in both pleasant and painful situations to conform us to the image of Christ. Someone rightly said, Products of sorrow have been the rarest gifts to mankind. Books, hymns, discoveries, deeds to which people have been urged by sorrow, or which have been into the world amid heart-rending soul travail, are those which will never be allowed to die, because they are perennial sources of inspiration and comfort. It was thus with the person who sang the hit song It is well with my soul. Adversity is the crucible for our transformation.  Our problem is that we want comfort and ease and immediate gratification more than the likeness of Jesus Christ and his long – term benefits. If a marriage is hopeless, our solution is to change spouses. If a job is miserable, we change jobs. And we switch churches if ours has got problems.
But God’s prescription in most cases is to hang in there so that we grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Romans 12 actually states that we need to have our minds renewed before we can discern, test or approve what is good, acceptable and perfect before God.
In short, a good thing is what God wills.
– For prayer and counselling call 011-877180 or e-mail mairos78@yahoo.co.uk