A Good Heart and The Trouble With Sin
One night after putting my little boys to bed, I cried through the midnight hour. “Why me?” “Why does this keep happening to me?” Metaphorically speaking, I was going around the mountain again and not learning a fundamental spiritual lesson. My pride kept me from seeing God’s sovereignty in a this situation, and it was ultimately for my protection. God is so good!
Looking back, I can see God hid me in a place of pressure, and the Holy Spirit was softening my heart so that one day I could obey when God said, “Go.” The scary part is I could have kept my heart hard, blown it, and labeled it something like “they won’t ever understand.”
I could have remained stubborn and rebellious. The trouble with sin is anyone can think they are following God and not have a good heart. (Remember the pharasees in the gospels? Ah, bummer!) Let me try to explain it this way. Have you ever met someone who loved God that had a “heart of gold”? And, then, to meet someone who doesn’t have a heart of gold but says they love God too? That’s what I’m trying to describe; there is something still to be surrendered to God in that second person. Something not good has been allowed to remain. I want to have a good heart. I think we all do.
What is a good heart?
In Galatians chapter five, we see goodness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives, but what is it exactly? How do we know if our hearts are good?
First, we must acknowledge Jeremiah 17:9. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” The point here is our hearts can deceive us. Deception is not good. Our hearts are not good. So, we must repent and be cleansed of all unrighteousness.
Second, we must guard our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” We must be picky about our thoughts, what we watch/read/scroll through, laugh at, who we listen to, and so on to keep our hearts pure. Thankfully, as Christians, we have the help of the Holy Spirit, who will convict us when we bump into something unholy so that we don’t gratify the desires of the flesh.
Quick rabbit trail here: Desires of the flesh aren’t always the really bad, immoral things. Desires of the flesh can be the self-gratification, affirmation, or validation we get from having things in our time and done our way. As disciples of Christ, we must constantly run from the temptation of impatience and control.
So back to my story, what did I do? I submitted to the choice made by someone else and worked on my heart (attitude). Yes, I submitted though I wasn’t convinced I was wrong. Here is the problem, my heart. We can think we’re good when we aren’t because one thing is off, our willingness to obey ALL. THE. WAY. This is the trouble with sin.
This might be obvious, but I’d like to share it anyway. Goodness can be defined as a deliberate preference for right to wrong, a firm and persistent resistance to all moral evil.* The less obvious Biblical definition of goodness is that what makes Christians “good” is their usefulness to God and their complete to obey Him. So, what is Goodness? It is being useful to God. Goodness is obedience. Therefore, a good heart would be a heart that is fit to be used by God, and we can see this in the lives of (note: imperfect) people’s obedience to Christ all throughout scripture. This kind of goodness doesn’t come automatically, but thankfully it can be developed. God always makes a way!
How a good heart grows:
Goodness starts like a seed, and because of divine grace, it grows and blossoms in our lives. Goodness cannot come out of a heart that is controlling. It is not a box we can check off, although I really do love a good list that’s been checked off. It’s not avoiding what we understand as evil and later affirming ourselves that we are good. Goodness is not a habit we can practice and pitch as an influencer.
We cannot, on our own, grow in goodness. In other words, we cannot, apart from Christ, develop our level of usefulness to God. Only by daily living under the influence of the Holy Spirit can we see the goodness of God produced in our lives.
Furthermore, being good or useful on our own profits us nothing. Rather, it highlights our selfish motives. If we’re honest, we must acknowledge that we want something else rather than to be led by the Holy Spirit. That something is usually our timing, our way, approval, or something of that nature.
So, how does the fruit of goodness grow after repentance and guarding our hearts? What does this look like?
We stay focused on what we condition our hearts with. Let’s use the familiar picture here. Our heart is like soil in a garden. It must be soft. We must be humble. The Word is the seed hidden in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit is faithful to cultivate the fruit in our lives. He will teach us and expose the lies we believed. The weeds and stones must be removed. We won’t be teachable or honest if we aren't humble. These are required child-like characteristics to develop the fruit of goodness.
A heart that is soft towards the leading of the Holy Spirit holds the nutrients that give to the root of the fruit. (Nutrients: Scripture, Prayer, Worship, etc.) However, the soil alone does not control the growth of the fruit. The soil only carries the design and potential for it. God created us to bear good fruit; we were designed that way! We must prioritize time spent with the Lord.
In considering the state of our heart, it should be soft, fearing the Lord and lifting His name rather than our own.
Practically, one way we can measure goodness is by considering our past. Despite our trials, our lives should highlight God’s goodness overall. Do we talk like it? Another way to measure goodness is by considering our outlook on life. Do we anticipate every step forward will be a closed door, just like the last one? Do we find a reoccurring pattern of inability to move on from this? (Whatever “this” is.) Perhaps we have limited the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Perhaps there is something we don’t yet see in ourselves, and before the Holy Spirit allows us to move forward, He wants to point it out for our good so that He can clean us, restore us, and later use us for His glory.
A final benchmark I’ll leave with you is considering how useful we are. Can God activate us as individuals? (Useful means capable of being put to use.) The only way we can carry out the plan that God has for our lives is by obeying Him. Look for patterns where you find a common theme of frustration; perhaps God desires to soften your heart using these different situations simultaneously. Consider this question: Can God use you? I mean, in your heart, will you obey all the way?
Remember, what cultivates a good heart is a believer’s usefulness to God and their obedience to His leading. Goodness is obedience.
When our hearts are soft towards the leading of the Holy Spirit, we’ll desire to obey and do it. Obedience requires teachability and humility. It renders itself useful. Out of our obedience, by grace, we’ll see the fruit of goodness. We’ll see this fruit in our friendships, marriages, finances, parenting, personal and professional development, and other meaningful areas of stewardship.
Join me and read this prayer aloud:
Dear God,
I need your help.
Help me to understand what you are asking of me today.
Help me to see what sin is keeping me from having a soft heart.
Help me to surrender to your will.
Help me to repent after identifying the sin.
Help me to guard my heart to keep it soft.
Help me to obey you.
Holy Spirit, you are welcome to develop the fruit of Goodness in my life. I submit to your guidance. I depend on you so that “surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” Ps. 23:6
Amen.
Friends, it’s no token statement I’m making when I say I’m not perfect, but I have discovered my mind cannot fathom the goodness that the Holy Spirit could produce through an obedient heart.
Only an obedient heart is useful, and I desire to be used by God in a meaningful way over my lifetime. I pray earnestly and wrestle to surrender my will so that when He calls, I can echo scripture and reply, “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10.
I’ll leave you with this final thought. Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Goodness is a fruit of obedience, and mercy is withholding the punishment we deserve. God knows we won’t get everything in life right, but we can have a heart postured towards obedience in everything we do, even if we mess it up. Living our lives being led by the Holy Spirit in complete surrender will spotlight God’s goodness. Instead of focusing on changing behavior, focus in prayer on heart change. Change. All. The. Way. He is good, and He will lead you.
xo, sa
*Goodness Defined: Eastons Illustrated Bible Dictionary https://www.BibleStudyTools.com/dictionaries/eastons-bible-dictionary/goodness.html 02/13/2023