What is Good?

“With what shall I come before the Lord [to honor Him] and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Will the Lord be delighted with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my acts of rebellion, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion), and to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?” Micah 6:6-8 Amplified

Be just. Love kindness. Walk humbly. This is what is good in the eyes of our God.

To be “just” comes from the Hebrew word “shaphat,” meaning “to judge, pronounce sentence for or against, vindicate or punish.” In any matter in which we are called upon to judge, personally or officially, we are to be just about it, deciding what is morally right and fair. If we are to have righteous judgment, as God has, we need to look at and consider the heart of the person, the deeper issues impacting the situation that God sees. It takes holy wisdom to have righteous judgment in all matters.

To “love kindness” is to love being merciful with others, obtaining joy in an act of kindness, being willing to do good, sympathizing with others in their life struggles and situations. It comes from the heart but also can be magnified and increased by turning our focus to every opportunity to extend kindness to another. This is in sharp contrast to our all-too-human enjoyment of seeing another’s faults, judging by outward appearance, being harsh and critical while focusing on the negative. We are to love kindness and embrace it just as God is kind and merciful in His nature. He is able to grant us hearts of kindness as we go on our way of becoming more and more like Him.

To “walk humbly” is the opposite of the pride of life, one of the three groups of sins that satan used to tempt Jesus in the wilderness and how Paul describes fleshly ways. Some Christians seem to focus on condemning and making laws against the sins of the flesh while minimizing their own attitudes of the heart preventing them from walking humbly before God. Arrogance and pride are not pleasing to God. Even when we are right, speaking truth, in our judgment we can miss the mark God has set for us.

It’s not just our words but the attitudes in our hearts that requires purification. All of these are heart matters, not outward behaviors. Religion has held up so many things that are good, ways to please God such as rules and traditions, acts of service, yes, even doing good works, But when they come from wrong heart motives, such as to be seen as godly, to please one’s fellowship and leaders, or to add to our income and stature, we are missing the mark.

So, what is good, what does God require? Many of the things religion teaches can be good when they come from a heart that is just, loving, kind and merciful, humbly following our Lord. What is good in God’s eyes is done from the right heart motive and led by the holy spirit. His love makes no demand, it is not earned. Love is a freely given gift, with the intent of good given without any spoken or unspoken requirements from the other person.

“These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and proclaim as you go, saying, ‘‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.’” Matthew 10-5-9 ESV

We do the good we do as the Lord leads, looking to please Father God, not to receive back. And there is a reward from the Lord for those who generously give the heart gifts of fair justice, kindness and humility:

“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.” Proverbs 11:24-25 ESV

What if we do good to get, rather than to give, in our hearts hoping for a reward from others rather than looking to God to reward us? It is part of human nature to hope we will receive in like manner to what and how we have given, even if we don’t realize that expectation is part of our loving actions. Inevitably, we are disappointed. Doing good in order to receive back from others is a natural expectation that is often unmet. It may increase the other’s favorable response in kind, but there is no guarantee of reward from others.

When we look for a reward from man, we may receive it or not, but God rewards the humble with the jewels of His nature. Would we rather have a human being’s mercy than God’s loving kindness towards us? He sees the heart and knows what we do in secret. It’s about what God considers good, not what humans value or take notice about what we do.

“But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right-hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:3-4 KJV

The rewards God provides are the highest, most valuable, and only lasting rewards there are: spiritual ones! There are many Christians who do much good, all the time, by the spirit and with sincere hearts, remaining unnoticed by others. Their motives are pure, and they are serving God, not man, in the doing. God sees all who give in secret, including secret kindness and compassion, and rewards each with more of His kingdom jewels of peace, love, and joy.

This is the lasting reward of inner character, most pleasing to God. The accolades of men are fleeting, but God sees the heart and rewards accordingly. Such saints are living this word Paul spoke to the Ephesians:

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 ESV

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” John 15:13 ESV

Forgiveness is freely extended to all through our Lord Jesus Christ. We give others kindness, keeping our hearts tender toward others, forgiving them as we are forgiven. Our forgiveness is without condition. We do not earn it nor can we. Only what Jesus Christ has done for us makes the way to the Father. It pleases God when we sacrifice by sharing what we have, whether it be little or a lot, words or possessions, time or other gifts freely given.

We lay down our lives—what we have, what we want, what will bless us—for our friends.

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” Luke 6:30 ESV

Several years ago, my husband lived out this last passage much better than I did. He planted, pruned, and nurtured a pear tree in our backyard, by the street, bordering our neighborhood’s walking and bike path. Every fall, we enjoy tree-picked fresh pears as well as giving many to others. That year, it was a bumper crop, with ripening pears hanging heavy on the branches. One day we got up, looked out, and saw that our pears were all gone! Every single one had been stripped from the tree.

One of our neighbors later told us that, on an early walk, they saw someone drive up, take out a ladder and a bucket, and proceed to take all of the pears from our tree. Well, I was righteously indignant. The audacity! The greediness! I could not believe someone would do that. I certainly never would do such a thing! They were probably going to sell them at a market. Our pears! We were waiting for them to ripen before we had any. Not one taste of our pears was left. No pears to enjoy or freeze for pear crisps.

I wanted to put up a sign for next year, saying, “Private property. Taking pears from this tree is stealing!” My husband, the gardener who had done all the labor to produce such abundance, was not in favor of such an action. He had a holy and humbling response: “Maybe they needed them more than we do.” I had never thought of that in my automatic response about my rights. That surely convicted me right on the spot, though that was not his intention. It came from his generous heart. Freely he had been given pears from the bounty of the earth. He was neither possessive nor stingy with that crop.

Pears are a small thing, not required for our existence. But if I have that attitude of heart about the small things, what about other ways people steal the “crops” that I grow? There are other, more vital, things that necessitate a better response consistent with God’s nature. The people of God, from the beginning, are held to a different standard regarding others’ needs, particularly those in poverty.

The Israelites were taught to be generous and giving, most especially with their brothers and sisters in the camp:

“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.” Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV

There was no concept of the deserving vs. undeserving poor as we see operationalized in many laws and rules of the land. These are often made even more restrictive, to ensure those receiving assistance in their poverty actually “need” it. Instead of making systemic changes that pave the way for all to be free to earn a living, individual restrictions increase for those in poverty, to prevent them from getting more than they “should.”

It is even said by some that we don’t have poverty in our greatly blessed country because they don’t see it, yet there continues to be an appalling and grievous number of children here in the US who live homeless, are food-deprived, and go hungry on a daily basis. Am I advocating for allowing anyone to take the money and resources others have earned? No, that’s not the point. I am concerned with the attitudes of our hearts in doing good in God’s eyes.

The comfort of our own blessings may blind us to the needs of others. It’s easy to be generous when one has a lot. It’s also common for those who have not suffered lack in any great way to remain unaware of the struggles and limitations of those who do. It’s easy to pride ourselves in what we have achieved without recognizing our own many unearned and unrecognized advantages, such as where we were born, natural gifts and talents, nurturing for success by one’s family, and open doors to choices others do not have because of the many societal barriers in their way.

Sometimes it is the wealthy who came from great poverty that are condemning of others who live in poverty. The heart attitude here is one of “Well I got out of poverty by hard work and so should everyone else.” It is so very difficult, however, to apply one’s own achievement to others lives about which we know little.

But that is exactly what we do, far to often, in our plans and programs to assist others, often without any education or input from those actually experiencing living in poverty. Life is challenging for families who do not have their needs met except by others who do not understand how they got there nor what they need to move out of poverty.

God said:

“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” Romans 15:1 ESV

“For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall.” Isaiah 25:4 ESV

As believers endeavor to be like Father God, yielding our hardened hearts to the holy spirit, we, too, are a stronghold to those who are poor, needy, in distress, caught in the storms and heat of daily life challenges. God sees when ruthlessness is in our hearts, tainting the good that we might do. Yes, it does say to be openhanded with other Israelites, their brothers and sisters in God’s eyes. When Jesus, came, He broadened the directive to give to others, to the least of them:

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” Matthew 25:44-45 ESV

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:16 ESV

When what we do is as unto the Lord, He sees it as done—or not done—to Him. It matters to the Lord not only what we do, but the attitude in our hearts in the doing. God sees a generous heart and is pleased. Is that not the whole point of our Christian walk, to please the Lord? And only He can change our hearts to be without guile, to give freely and lovingly, in kindness sharing what abundance we have, and, more so, when we share what little we have with others in need.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place [in the temple] where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’” Mark 12:41-44 NIV

Then there arises a question with which I have personally struggled before the Lord. How much is enough? How much giving of our wealth and resources is sufficient when there is need all around us? Are we all called to give everything away and live in poverty with those in need? With all the information on the suffering around the world, let alone in our own neighborhood, where does the giving end?

No one is able to answer that except the Lord God Himself for each of us. We must be led by the spirit in all things, to please God with what is good in His eyes, generously and freely giving as God prompts us to do so. Jesus did not minister to all who came His way. He saw many in need, walking among the rich and the poor without condemnation.

His judgment, however, was severely aimed at the attitudes of the exalted religious leaders of the time. They loved the honor of men and laid heavy burdens on others while not applying them to their own lives. Is this not happening yet today? It’s easy for me to say I am not ambitious for material wealth when all my needs are met and I have enough for the future. Perspective is radically changed, however, for areas in which we experience lack and deprivation.

What is good? What does God require of us, in our own hearts before the Lord? Consider the great prophet Isaiah‘s words as he chastised the leaders of the land for fasting to get rather than to give, to look holy in the eyes of others:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?…

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” Isaiah 5:6-7; 10-11 NIV

Once again, God is dealing with the attitudes of our hearts. It is so easy to point the finger at another, whether it is judging those in poverty or criticizing the rich in how they handle their wealth. There is a blessing from God who sees the hearts of all and rewards those who do not participate in oppressing others. This includes the judgmental talking about and condemning of others when we have not had to walk the same paths.

God counts on His own to give what they have:

“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, ‘Look on us’. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.’

And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” Acts 3:1-8 KJV

Peter said, “Such as I have I give thee.” He gave this man the ability to walk, something he had never been able to do. When we faithfully walk with our Lord, He shows us what and when to give to those who have not, to take action on behalf of those who are oppressed and carrying heavy burdens. Then our light shines in the darkness and others will see the Christ in us.

What is good? God shows us what is good and just as we walk humbly before Him.