Artist: Flame
Song: Goodness to Repentance
Album: Our World Fallen
Sometimes, at least for me, God can appear to be paradoxical and contradictory, but I always remember that God is God and He does not contradict Himself, nor does He change. When I have a hard time understanding God, it challenges me to search the Scriptures even more so that I can come to understand the truth of the Lord according to the truth that He has revealed in His Word. One of the hard things to understand is the fall of man and the resulting suffering that has come in the world as a consequence to our sin, but even in the midst of that He is still good towards His creation. Even to the unregenerate sinner, God still displays acts of kindness, and it just baffles my mind sometimes. That's when I started to read the Scriptures and look at passages like Romans 2:4, which we're going to look at today.
Romans 2:4 (NKJV) - Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
While writing a review for Flame's latest project, Our World Fallen, there was a song that stood out called "Goodness to Repentance" that speaks to the heart of this issue. In this song (that you can hear below), Flame takes the "war stories" of many famous rappers who have survived various bullet wounds using lines like, "look at 50's face and you can see God's grace." The purpose of the song is to show how even in their wicked state, God still displays acts of goodness towards men so that it might lead them to repentance and putting their faith in the Savior. The kicker for this song comes when Flame says they "want the benefits of being God's seed, but don't want to live godly;" that basically sums up mankind right there; they want all the benefits of being a child of God, but don't want to do anything to act like and show they're His offspring. Now let's take it to the text and really expound on this.
In Romans 1, Paul gives us a long list of the sins and wickedness that God had given men/women over to in their unregenerate states (homosexuality, fornication, pride, violence, etc.), and chapter 2 is basically a continuation of what is being expounded upon in relation to the wickedness and depravity of mankind. Put simply, Paul is telling the people that God has made Himself known, but they refuse to acknowledge Him, and as a result, they're going to reap the consequences. Even in all of His goodness towards man, you would think that it would lead them to repent of their wicked ways and turn to God. Sadly enough, there are so many people who are too far gone and are only storing up wrath for themselves, instead of the good things that God desires to give them. Much like Flame says in his song, too many people like to enjoy the "things" of God when good things happen to them, but turn around and curse this same God when negative things happen. Instead, they should recognize His sovereignty and worship Him as God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Indeed, God's goodness should lead us to repentance, and for some, it does. God has given us so many things, and He's even so good that He will allow us to have our own way, even if it leads us to hell, as weird as that might sound. The only reason we are able to do the things we do is because God allows us to do them, good or bad; He gives us the choice, and it is up to us whether we will harden our hearts towards God or if we will repent and turn towards Him. Ultimately, God's goodness led to giving His only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins; if we choose to turn a deaf ear towards that, then ultimately we will reap the consequence of eternal damnation in hell. Truly, God's goodness should lead us to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
