Bring Forth Good

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. Matthew 12:35

In Psalm 16 David exclaims, “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you’.” He recognised his own sinful nature – his true nature, our true nature. Yet in that recognition came freedom, because the good within us comes from God alone. This is the goodness that was woven into our original state from the very beginning.

Maybe, like me, you have wondered how Adam experienced the world around him before sin entered. What did that pure state of being feel like? The devastation that sin brought about is hard for us to truly comprehend because our view of the world has always been shaped by it – but that only makes what God has done for us all the more breath-taking.

Jeremiah pulled no punches when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (17:9). As a child this verse really disturbed me because I knew so many ‘good’ people, and I found it hard to understand why the bible would say this – but that’s the innocence of childhood. As we get older we start to see and understand what people are truly capable of. And yet, it is precisely that reality which makes the goodness and mercy of God so utterly incredible.

Taste and see that the LORD is good! Psalm 34:8

There is good within each one of us because God is good, and although sin mars that trait within us, it is revived by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we are grafted into the vine, the seed of goodness is tended by the Spirit so that it grows into good fruit.

Let the Holy Spirit cultivate your inner goodness so that from your good treasure, you bring forth good in all that you do.