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Goodness is the only investment that never fails.-Henry David Thoreau

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,…Galatians 5:22. The Apostle Paul

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share….1Timothy 6:18. The Apostle Paul

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him….Matthew 12:35. Jesus Christ

Goodness as defined by Webster’s dictionary is the quality or state of being good. We find in the scriptures that having the quality of being good is very important.

Even with the help of Mr. Webster I still have a hard time defining goodness on paper. But I have no trouble spotting those who have invested their lives in goodness as I walk throughout my day.

They have a certain ease about themselves. There is no guilt following them around. They are comfortable with who they are and what they are doing because they have invested themselves in doing the good thing and when you do that you have few worries about oncoming consequences. People who invest their lives in goodness have a peace that those who do not practice goodness do not have.

Where does all this goodness come from? Jesus gives the answer in the scripture above, it comes from the heart. Those who have invested their lives in doing good have also invested their lives in the creator of all good things, Jesus Christ.

They have taken the time to build within their heart a reservoir of goodness by spending quality moments with the Lord. During those quality moments they have petitioned God in prayer. They have also dug into the scriptures and found the answers to lives hard questions and seen goodness in action in the Gospels by the life and death of Jesus.

Henry David Thoreau uses the term investment. Like any good investment you normally only get out of it what you put into it. Jesus mirrors that statement when He says out of the good man comes good things and out of the evil man comes evil things.

So as we look at goodness really only one question needs to be asked. What are you storing up in your heart? Remember whatever your pour into your heart will in turn pour out.

Scriptures: Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Prayer: Dear Lord, Help us to build within our hearts a goodness that only comes from you. May we seek the good and enjoy the fruits that come from such a live. We thank you that you are love and that all good and perfect things come from above and we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.