1John 3:21-23
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
Let’s take a look at what we need to do to achieve the perfect goodness that God wants us to do.
- To achieve perfect goodness
As Luke 18:19 says, “No one is good except God.” Absolute goodness belongs only to God. Therefore, only the Bible in which the Word of God is written can be the standard for goodness. When we achieve perfect goodness, we can understand the heart of God the Father and love each other. Also, by gaining courage before God, you can receive answers to everything you ask and give glory to God.
Then, what must we do to achieve the perfect goodness that God desires?
1) There must be no discomfort
A person who has perfect goodness in his heart will not feel uncomfortable with any opponent he encounters. He has a different opinion from his own, and he does not feel uncomfortable even if he says or does things that are not in accordance with his own will and framework. Some people quickly feel uncomfortable when the other person has an opinion that is different from their own, especially if they are younger or less in order.
However, the truth is that this is not the case with those who have perfect goodness in their hearts. He has a broad mind that can listen to the opinions of others, so he does not make hasty decisions or ignore the opinions of others. As in Luke 6:45, ‘a good man produces good out of the accumulated good of his heart’, good thoughts and words come out in any situation. As if everything melts in a hot furnace, if your heart is full of good and there is no evil in your heart, no matter what you see or hear, it will be understood as good, so you will always respond only with good.
However, to the extent that the heart is not completely filled with goodness, it has its own thoughts, righteousness, and framework, and when something that does not fit into it comes in, you feel uncomfortable. The more evil you have in your heart, the more you feel uncomfortable. It is the same as the words of Luke 6:45 in the second half of the verse, “The evil one brings forth evil out of the evil stored up in him, for out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
For example, one may say of another: “He always attacks me and makes me very uncomfortable.” He expresses how hard he is because of other people, but these words do not come from a person with a good heart. The reason for this saying is because there is a self-importance of ‘I didn’t do anything wrong’. In addition to this, he even judged that the other party was doing this on purpose to make it difficult for him, so it is far from good.
How did you feel when you met someone who wasn’t right for you? If you look at the words, you can see whether there was no discomfort in your heart at all because it is understood as good, whether you did not distance yourself from others because you felt very uncomfortable, and furthermore, whether you did not convey bad words by judging others in your own thoughts. You will know how far you have reached your perfect goodness.
2) You must seek the interests of others
It is evidence of spiritual love that we seek the interests of others first rather than seeking our own. However, while seeking the other’s interests, the most important thing is not to do what is best for you, but to understand the other person’s heart and adapt it accordingly.
Some people say that they save the other person’s good, but rather make it difficult for them. The other person doesn’t want it, but because it looks good to them, there are cases where they force it or give it as if they were entrusting it with something. This is only for self-satisfaction, but it is not really for the other person, and it can put a burden on the other person.
However, when you truly understand the other person’s heart and save the other person’s benefit, the other person will live in your heart. Also, every good deed that seeks the benefit of others in all things will accumulate as a virtue, bringing peace and fullness to many people. Then the peace will never be broken and a loving relationship will be created. There is no need to make enemies, but you will be able to reconcile with those who hated you.
Also, if you fully understand the heart of the other person, even if the other person turns out to be evil, there is nothing that you cannot forgive. If everything is understood and forgiven, and furthermore, if you do good to others, the truth of your heart will touch the hearts of others, and eventually you will be able to reconcile (Proverbs 16:7).
3) Be a servant
Serving is not only humble, but also sacrificing oneself to benefit others and to provide for others’ needs. Just as salt loses its shape and melts completely in order to taste it, true service is to provide for the needs of others even at the cost of self-sacrifice.
Jesus also said in Matthew 23:11, “The greatest among you must be your servant.” In order, the more you become a head, the more you should have a heart to serve rather than be served. If there is a desire to be served, it can cause mutual discomfort and destroy peace. However, even a new believer will learn to serve if they show an example of serving each other first like Jesus, the Son of God, who first showed an example of service.
Unlike people in the world who say, ‘Can I be the first?’ even if we trample on each other, we can truly feel the kingdom of heaven from the way you both serve and exalt each other. I’ll give it to you.
- The Perfect Goodness and Blessing of Mary Magdalene
Among the forefathers of faith, I would like to consider the goodness of Mary Magdalene, who was blessed to face the Lord of the Resurrection for the first time. A few years ago, during deep prayer, God the Father taught me the goodness of Mary Magdalene, so I preached for hours.
Mary Magdalene was born weak in a spiritually dark home because of her intense idolatry, and she grew up without the love of her family. As for Maria, who was changing her appearance to look ugly because of her sickly, her family thought, ‘I wish he would disappear, that child makes us so difficult.’ And if anything bad happened to her family, she vaguely blamed her Maria for everything and made it very difficult.
Still, she did not blame her family or blame her circumstances. Rather, she thought about how hard it would be for her family because of her, and she felt ashamed of herself being a burden to her family. So she said, ‘What’s the way to not trouble her family? She thought, ‘How can I relieve the burden on her family because of me?’
She thus came to meet and depend on a man, but rather he asks her sickly Maria to get money for her gambling, or she blames her misfortune on her own for committing a bad thing. I used to do it. She said that even though she had such an unhappy life, she didn’t blame the man and she didn’t hate her. She thought, ‘He’s having a hard time meeting a disgruntled person like me,’ she thought, and she felt rather sorry that he couldn’t fit her more into her wishes.
Because she was a Mary with an extremely good heart, the God of her love led her to meet Jesus when her time came, and blessed her so that she could gain strength as well. After that, Mary served and followed Jesus, loved fervently and accomplished perfect good, so she eventually suffered the crucifixion and received the glory and blessing to be the first to see the resurrected Lord on this earth. could
- Specific examples for achieving perfect goodness
Then, what should we do specifically to achieve perfect goodness?
First, if your partner disagrees with you or doesn’t follow your plan. In this case, you may find some people feel very uncomfortable and distance themselves from the other person. Sometimes I think, ‘I don’t want to be with that person next time’, and when I accomplish something, I actually exclude that person.
But a good person is not uncomfortable with those who think differently from him. It’s not about insisting that only my thoughts are right, but first of all, trying to understand the other person’s point of view and heart, and to save the other person’s interests. It is about respecting the opinions of others as much as possible and thinking of them as good.
It is always the same whether the other person is higher or lower than you in order. Even if you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly, you do not ignore the other person’s words. Just as God could enlighten the prophet Balaam by opening the mouth of a donkey, no matter how small the words are, if his words are true, he will be able to listen humbly, take them to heart, and pray.
The next case is when someone who is inferior to you in something gets praised. In such a case, a person may feel very uncomfortable, revealing the other person’s flaws, and may be tempted or discouraged. Not only is it uncomfortable for the person being praised, but there are also times when the person who compliments you feels sad. But the children of God will never have this happen. This is evidence that the heart lacks goodness and lacks the spiritual love that rejoices with the truth.
Then, what kind of heart and deeds will come out of a person who has achieved perfect goodness in his heart in this case? He does not get praise for doing nine things well, and even if the other person is praised for one thing well, he is genuinely happy together. And he has a desire to learn by looking for one thing that others are praised for.
This is the heart of goodness and the heart of the spirit. The heart of the spirit is the heart that sacrifices itself for others and rejoices with the truth. It is the spirit of the spirit to rejoice and be grateful for the fact that others do better than you do yourself.
The heart of God the Father, who is spirit, is goodness itself, which is full of goodness. Therefore, we, who are children, must also become children of spirit filled with a heart of goodness. In this way, I hope that you will understand the other person’s heart, seek the other’s benefit first, and come into spirit and whole spirit more quickly by serving from the heart.
Dear saints,
In 1 John 3:21-22, the text says, “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God and can receive from God whatever we ask.” If you gain courage before God, you can receive anything you ask for. The secret to gaining courage before God is to bring joy by keeping His commandments. Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you may earnestly long for more perfect goodness and do everything with a good heart to receive and enjoy God’s grace and blessings to your heart’s content.
