Goodness seems to be the quality that gets mentioned, but never gets focused on. From the surface, goodness seems to be just being a “good person.” But what if there was much more to goodness than being moral?
Goodness towards others should be an overflow from our hearts of Christ’s love in us. When we allow the Holy Spirit to point us toward Christ, our hearts will gradually change from the immoral ways of the world to the godly ways of Christ.
Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
When our hearts are full of selfishness and self-centeredness, we will not be able to treat others in a way that reflects God’s goodness towards us. The way we treat others is a reflection of the condition of our hearts.
The things we think and dwell upon will result in the way we act, think and treat people.
In Philippians 4:8, Paul says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
These are the things we should be dwelling upon in order to have hearts full of goodness and rejoicing. When we fill our mind with the things mentioned in the verse above, we will, in turn, be filling our hearts with the same things.
The closer we get to Jesus, the more we will want to live God-honoring “good” lives. We cannot expect to be more like Christ by simply having good intentions.
Good intentions that are not backed up by active behavior will lead nowhere.
Matthew 4:4 says, “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The way we become more like Christ and develop a heart full of goodness toward others is by immersing ourselves in the Word of God and viewing the world through the lens of his godliness, instead of human morality.
