If one reads enough blogs and editorials, one might come away with the impression that there is nothing good at all going on in the world. In some respects it is true, as sin has affected every part of the world in which we live. But is it all bad? After all, God created his world good—so there must be something good going on, right?
Gideon Strauss, editor of the online journal Comment, has written a piece called “Ten Good Things,” in which he delineates ten good things that he sees going on in our culture. Strauss, who runs an excellent blog himself, sees among the good elements such things as blogging, the present generation of teens, and new traditional music. The article is well worth a look—it’s good to be reminded that God is at work in the world in spite of us. As Strauss says,
The goodness of the world is something that Christians and Jews have always confessed. The great story that shapes our understanding of the world begins with God creating all things, and declaring each kind of creature – day and night, earth and sea, plants and animals, and human beings – to be good, even very good. While this original goodness has been substantially spoiled, much that is good remains because of God’s sustaining common grace, in the natural world but very much also in human culture.
Indeed.