The Level of Goodness (1)
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March 04, 2012 |
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 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."(Romans 12:2)
Most people think it's only natural to pay someone back who gives them a hard time or causes them some kind of damage or harm. But God told us it is evil to take revenge and it is goodness to forgive and love even our enemies. If we apply the Word of God telling us to love even our enemies, there are many situations that are actually evil even though worldly people think of them as 'good'.
When we attain the level of goodness that pleases God, we can receive the amazing love of God and blessings from Him. All trials and persecutions depart from us and we can receive answers to whatever we ask. What then, is 'goodness'? What do we have to do to reach the level of goodness that God wants?
1. What is Goodness?
We can feel how evil the world becomes watching news program on TV. That's why God said in Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Now we must know what goodness is in order to practice goodness just as we have to know the law to keep it.
In Luke 18:18, a man called Jesus, "Good teacher!" Then, Jesus answered in verse 19, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." The reason He said so is to let the people realize that only God is truly good, and only God's word, the Bible, is the standard of goodness. Therefore, goodness is God's thoughts and will.
People just think goodness 'the quality or state of being good,' or 'of a favorable character or tendency'. They discern what is good or what is evil according to their own standards of conscience. But they all have different levels of knowledge, and different family backgrounds. They also learned from different teachers. All these made them different from others. The conscience is a mixture of truth and untruth making one's own standard of value to say that something is truth. So the conscience of men cannot be the perfect standard of goodness.
Let us suppose somebody is cursing at you and beating on you, but you are not cursing back at him, but are bearing with it. People around you might think you are a man of goodness. But the goodness acknowledged by God is not to react in evil and not to have any ill-feeling. Furthermore, He wants us to move the heart of the person who does evil to us and even to give our lives for them. It is the utmost degree of goodness.
2. The First Level of Goodness: Not to React in Evil, But to Suppress Ill-feelings
The first level of goodness is not to react in evil even though you have some ill-feelings in you when somebody acts with evil towards you.
Let us suppose somebody is cursing at someone else, but he is not cursing back and just bearing with it. Because he knows God's Word or to show how well he's been taught he doesn't fight back but just suppresses his ill-feelings and discomfort.
He may seem to be very good and mild on the outside. Because he does not fight back but endures it people say, "He can live even without the law." But this kind of person is not truly good in God's sight. It is because God does not look at the appearance but the inner heart. It is because he still has evil in his heart even though he doesn't pay back evil with evil. It is better than fighting back, but God still deems it evil if you just suppress your ill-feelings that are burning inside your heart. This level cannot even actually belong to a level of goodness recognized by God as goodness.
Today there are believers who act with evil because they don't know the goodness of God. If they want to become men of goodness they have to try to live according to the Word of God.
Proverbs 8:13 says, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate." Therefore, if you truly believe in God, you will fear God, hate evil, and follow the goodness.
3. The Second Level of Goodness: Not to Have Any Kind of Discomfort
In the second level of goodness, you will not have any kind of discomfort or ill-feelings much less pay back evil with evil. You will not have any kind of hatred or discomfort whatsoever against the other person. This is to have no evil at all in your heart. It can be deemed a heart of spirit. This is the minimum level of goodness that God recognizes.
When we suffer something evil, we might have momentary ill-feeling or agitation of our heart, even though we do not pay it back with evil. But even at those times, if we control our mind and try to understand with goodness, we can accomplish goodness where we do not even have any kind of ill-feeling.
We can see this in the case of Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. If he had been an ordinary man who found out that his fiancée was pregnant without him having lain with her, what do you think he'd do? He would most likely have passed judgment assuming she had committed adultery. He might also have tried to punish her according to the law and have her stoned to death. But Joseph was a righteous man, and he did not want to make her a public example, so he was going to put her away secretly. That is why God could tell Joseph, who was this good, that the baby conceived in Mary was Jesus, who would become the Savior.
1 John 5:18 says, "We know that no one who is born of God sins. But He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." If you accomplish at least the minimum level of goodness, the second level of goodness that God acknowledges the enemy devil and Satan can't bring accusation to you and you won't be put under trials and afflictions.
If we obey the enemy devil and Satan and think, say, and act in evil, we can't be protected or blessed no matter how long we have been a Christian. But if you just accomplish the minimum level of goodness that God acknowledges, the darkness will be driven away by your light.
I want you to check whether your heart is really good or not. Suppose you are in charge of some work, and the work went wrong due to the mistake of one of your workers. In this kind of case, many of you would repent before God saying, "It is my fault. I did not take care of it properly." But, deep in a corner of your heart wouldn't you still want to blame that worker to some extent and want to rebuke him out of the bad feeling coming from the difficulties you face?
A man of goodness takes responsibility from the bottom of his heart in such a case. He'd let his workers become aware of what was wrong, but encourage them and try to settle the problem. Seeing his goodness, all the workers would be moved and become united as one.
There is one more thing you have to check. It is when you see somebody else being reprimanded. Were you relieved because you were not involved? Or did you side with the person in giving the reprimand to the other person thinking he deserved it? A person of goodness would think, "It would not have happened if I had helped him," and the person would look back upon himself with distress. Thus, if the work is directly related to him, he will naturally be honest in all things, and he will take the responsibility upon himself.
We might sometimes seem to face damage or difficulties when we tell the truth or act in goodness. Since God is goodness itself and He controls life, death, curses and the blessings of mankind, then goodness will surely lead to victory. So I hope you put complete trust in God who is always on the side of people of goodness and receive the love and the abundant blessing of God.
To be continued in the next edition
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