Matthew 12:22-37
When I was a rather “young Christian,” I attended the big yearly retreat for my church. The speaker was a minister who was a friend of our pastor, and he said something I will never forget. He said: “The heart is the core of a person. Decision making starts in the heart.”
In all of my years studying in school, I was taught much, however, there was little said about the “heart.” I heard more about the heart in my rock music. Yet as I grew as a Christian, I learned of the utter importance of the heart.
Jesus heals a man who was demon-possessed. The man could not even see or speak, yet the healing by Jesus enabled the man to be able to see and speak. The response by the Pharisees was to call Jesus evil. Jesus, who is the Messiah, the One anointed with the Holy Spirit, was called evil. Those Pharisees were deranged, which Jesus made clear as He revealed they were evil (see Matthew 12:34).
Nearing 2000 years later, evil in our culture is rampant! Jesus reveals that judgment is going to take place. Judgment will be carried out by God who knows the state of the hearts of all people of all time, and the resulting actions and words of all people of all time. And as the prophet Isaiah stated: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” (Isaiah 5:20 NIV).
Now focusing on the good, I am grateful for those good people who genuinely love people and who do good. They bear good fruit indeed.
Do you want to be good? Believe in Jesus, and you will be good. Jesus will forgive you of your sins, Jesus will justify you for all time, and Jesus will bond your heart with the Holy Spirit, thus beginning the sanctification process. Thus you will be good. Do understand the sanctification process takes time. I will speak for myself and say becoming holy is a painful process. Yet it leads to goodness.
Being a human, you will still struggle with sin. Yet as a follower of Jesus, you will become more and more loving.
God is good.
God is loving.
God is calling you.
Hunter Irvine
