God is Good, but is He Nice? By Rev. Walker Schurz

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God is Good, but is He Nice?
By Rev. Walker Schurz

Walker and Haley Schurz have lived and ministered in Southern Africa since 1994. After graduating from Oral Roberts University they attended Rhema Bible Training Center and graduated in 1991.

Their ministry, Africa Outreach, is strategically based in Lusaka, Zambia and extends to many of the surrounding nations such as South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique. God has blessed them with a great ministry team to reach the estimated 90% of pastors in Southern Africa who have not had any formal Bible training. In addition to their ministry through Africa Outreach, Walker and Haley pastor Miracle Life Family Church in Lusaka, Zambia.

I’ve had the privilege of being with Walker and Haley twice in Lusaka and seeing their great work.  God’s hand is upon them and their work.  Please take a moment to learn more about their ministry at www.africaoutreach.org.

As we walk through our Christian life, hopefully we will see more and more of God and who He is. Moses desired to see God and now we can see God’s fullness in the light of His son Jesus. We may miss out on experiencing a part of God’s nature if an aspect of Him remains clouded to us through ignorance. Unfortunately, some Christians do not realize that God is the one who heals us, provides for us and leads us by His Spirit. It is a wonderful day when the eyes of our understanding become a bit more enlightened so that we know Him better.

I recently heard a minister on a CD recount a conversation that she had with a friend. Her friend mentioned an elderly man that reminded her of Jesus because he was “so nice.” The minister replied that in reading the gospels, “nice” was not a word she associated with Jesus.

I thought I would turn off the CD as my internal heresy meter was beeping wildly – surely God is nice. I then accepted her challenge to read the gospels, looking for the conversations Jesus had with people. I then identified each conversation as “nice” or “not-so-nice.” I was amazed at the strong language Jesus used towards both hard-hearted Pharisees and disciples whom he called his friends.

Peter alone was told:

  • "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (Matt. 16:23)
  • "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."  (Matt 26:34)
  • Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matt. 26:40)
  • Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don’t have much faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?”  (Matt. 14:31)

Why did Jesus say all of these things to Peter? Because in each situation it was the absolute truth. John 1:14 tells us that Jesus was full of grace and truth. Jesus never hurled insults at people and later had to go back and apologize, like we have to do on occasion. Every word He spoke to someone was not only the truth, but motivated from a heart of love. Truly, whom the Father loves, he corrects.

God loves us enough to tell us the truth. Many times, the quickest path to change is to face reality. Jesus was and is today a living defining moment. He deals with our motives and the matters of our heart so that anything that is holding us back from His best can be dealt with in the light.

After seeing Jesus in this reality, I became aware of how many times I avoided truth that might hurt or make me squeamish. I only wanted God to say things that would make me feel warm and well, . . “nice” on the inside. I had missed out on such an important part of God’s nature. By ignoring and discounting the facts about some of my shortcomings, I was insuring that they followed me into my future.

God needs to bring truth into our lives because we suffer from the terrible human condition of perspective. Without outside assistance, I only see things from my point of view. God tells us that every way of a man is right in his own eyes (Prov. 21:2). Because our eyes don’t always give us a true picture of reality, we need to hang around God to get His completely accurate perspective. Anyone who has raised a teenage son can concur with the expression, “we don’t smell our own stink.”

As I began to accept this part of God’s nature, truth and light came my way more than ever before. I heard truth spoken to me from a variety of sources: my wife, kids, employees, church members and friends. Some of these reality checks were not very sugar coated. My knee-jerk reaction was to hit back or deflect. Upon further review, I realized, so much was true.

Then and only then did I see the Holy Spirit begin to work in my heart to bring true and lasting change. It is now so thrilling to see areas of neglect and fear become strong and functional by God’s grace. As a leader, I desire to grow as my development will be multiplied through the lives of others. I invite you to see this wonderful aspect of God’s character and enjoy the life change that will come your way.