Editorial July 29, 1985 Issue

Why your goodness makes a difference

WILLIAM E. MOODY

In a society where it's often considered out of fashion to be honest, chaste, and respectful of others, why should you bother to buck the tide? Does it make any difference that you uphold a standard? Sometimes it might seem that the goodness one individual could express wouldn't amount to very much. Yet there is an innate goodness in man that is actually a spiritual quality—a power—bestowed by God. And it's this spiritual goodness that really makes the difference in human experience.

Your goodness can be like a beacon—a powerful beam of light piercing the fogbound ignorance of unenlightened human thinking. The good we embrace through prayer and actively express in our daily lives actually derives from God alone. When we see goodness as a spiritual quality and realize that its source is truly in God, our own lives radiate with more joy and peace and purpose, regardless of the world's darkened beliefs and the sadness of immorality. And isn't it when things seem darkest that a light, even one candle, is most needed and welcomed?

Christ Jesus taught his disciples how important it is to be a witness for true good. The good we do and express gives praise to God; it leads others to find the Father's grace and mercy; and it can heal. Jesus said: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:14-16.

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