Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No. 7
“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” (Matthew 12:34-35NIV)
Those are the words of our Lord Jesus to us on how to be good people or bad people. And how do I become either a good person or a bad one? It is all about what I deposit or invest in my life.As our Lord asks in our opening text, “How can someone who is full of poison say or do anything good?” It is not possible. That person will have to change the content of his life for that to happen.
Otherwise, regardless of how hard he tries, he can never say anything good, unless, of course, God borrows his mouth for a moment.So, do you want to be a good person, in word and in conduct, begin to store goodness in your life.
Yes, begin to deliberately load yourself with words, thoughts and images of goodness. And you can do that by exposing yourself continually to the word of God. That is because His word is the word of goodness. And if you feed on it long enough, it will fill you with sufficient power of goodness to recreate your heart and also your conduct. Then you will find yourself unconsciously and naturally exhibiting and promoting goodness.
In like manner, if you really want to be or remain a bad person, you just need to feed yourself long enough with bad words, thoughts and images. And before you know it, everyone around you will have no doubt whatsoever about the fact that you are Satan’s firstborn. That is because you will be utterly bad and corrupt.
But then, I also need to say that even if you do not want to be a bad person but a good one, as long as you keep feasting on bad and useless words, thoughts and images, you will not be able to stop yourself from being a bad, corrupt and useless person. It is just what it is.
Similarly, even if you do not want to be a good person but a bad one, as long as you continue to feed on the word of God’s goodness, filling yourself with good thoughts and images through it, you won’t be able to help yourself from manifesting goodness.
So, whether your life will manifest goodness or evil all depends on the content of your heart. What, then, do you want in manifestation in your life, goodness or evil? Well, all you need is to change the content of your heart accordingly. My counsel, nevertheless, is that you change the content to what is good.C
heers!