Skip to content ↓

Are You a Lover of Good?

Are You a Lover of Good

There seems to be something embedded within our sinful human nature that makes us quicker to see evil than good. There is something that draws our attention more naturally to sin than to righteousness, more easily to what is ugly in other people than what is beautiful. No wonder, then, that one of the qualifications for an elder is that he must “a lover of good”, a man who takes delight in the things that delight the heart of God, a man who is not known primarily for the evils he despises but for the good he loves (Titus 1:8).

In that vein, what do you suppose comes more readily to the mind of God when he considers us—the evil we have done or the good? The evidences of remaining sin or the evidences of new grace? The ways in which we have defied his will or the ways in which we have submitted to it? I hope and expect the answer is obvious. While God sees and knows all things, surely what he most readily and eagerly sees in us is all the ways in which we are becoming like him—the godly character, the acts of love, the deeds of faith. He is a proud Father.

But I wonder about you. I wonder what is in your mind and what fills your heart when you consider Christian leaders or personalities, when you consider members of your local church, when you consider your own husband or wife or children? When it comes to other Christians in the widest circle or the narrowest, are you more likely to consider their strengths or their weaknesses, their virtues or their vices?

When someone mentions that Christian leader, do you think first about his flaws or about his graces? Is the first thing that comes to your mind the position he holds that irritates you or the deed he committed that bothers you? Or is it the way the Lord has shaped him and raised him to a position of prominence and used him there to bless others? Is it his failures, however obvious they may be, or his successes?

When someone asks you about that member of your church, could you more easily recount evidences of sinfulness in her life or evidences of grace? Is what naturally pours out of your mouth a list of proofs of the old woman or the new woman? Of what she was or what she is and will be?

When you pray for your husband, are your first words to the Lord words of praise and gratitude for the way God has been working within him and doing such good through him? Or are your first words related to his flaws and your hope that God will finally correct them? Do you more naturally see what’s wrong with him or what’s right? Do you more naturally offer the Lord praise or petition when you consider him?

Does your heart more readily identify what is lovely or what is abhorrent, what pleases God or what grieves him?

When it comes to your spouse, when it comes to your children, when it comes to the members of your church, when it comes to other Christians of any kind, are you more skilled at identifying good or evil, sinfulness or virtue? Does your heart more readily identify what is lovely or what is abhorrent, what pleases God or what grieves him? Is the instinct of your tongue to praise God for the work he has done or to lament the work he has not yet done? I ask you to consider: Are you, like God, a true lover of good, a true searcher for good, and a truly committed identifier of good?


  • Free Stuff Fridays (TGBC)

    This weeks Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by The Good Book Company. They are giving away a bundle of their best-selling Good Book Guides that are designed to guide your head and your heart through God’s word. Each Good Book Guide includes a concise leader’s guide in the back.  The Bundle includes: Giveaway Rules: You…

  • A Light on the Hill

    A Light on the Hill

    In early 2020, CHBC, along with almost every other church in the world, was forced to contend with the opening days of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time Caleb Morell was working as Pastor Mark Dever’s personal assistant. Dever tasked him with finding out how the church had responded to the Spanish flu epidemic a…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (April 18)

    A La Carte: John Piper on being a loner / Snapchat is harming children / The most radical thing / How not to be secular / Three commentary mistakes / Jesus, your sorrow-bearer / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (April 17)

    A La Carte: The vibe shift / The Jurassic Park principle of Christian freedom / This is what power looks like / Don’t stay in the puddles / The awkwardness of Easter / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Airliner

    They Won’t Because They Can’t

    If you’ve flown recently, you have probably made the same observation I have: No one pays attention to the pre-flight safety videos. There may be the occasional uptick in interest after a well-publicized crash or near-disaster, but soon old habits return—people stuff their AirPods into their ears and stare at their phones rather than watch…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 16)

    A La Carte: Joy and weeping / Sullivan’s kidnapping / The sin of Sodom / John Piper’s retirement plan / Eagles, fowl, and a Savior with wings / Kindle and book deals / and more.