A heart filled with goodness

Where does goodness come from, and how can you cultivate more of it in your daily decisions and actions? Some people think goodness is a matter of the head and that right-thinking results in right living.

Today every politician gives the impression that education is the panacea [answer] for practically every problem in society. Yet education of the head, without the same emphasis on the integrity of the heart, will only make wicked people clever. If education alone were the answer, white-collar crimes would likely drop. Others think goodness is a matter of the hands. They say goodness means treating people well. But doing good does not make a person good. Murderers on death row may be good to their mothers, but they are not good individuals.

The truth is, goodness is not located in the head or the hands; it’s hidden in your heart. Jesus, the best man who ever lived, said, ‘A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.’ Goodness is not merely a matter of what we know or what we do; it is a matter of what we are. As you consider the life ahead of you, what really matters is not how long you live but how well you live.

Sir Francis Bacon once said: ‘Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of Deity; and, without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.’ So in your desire to be good, draw closer to God. After all, you become like the company you keep.