Good Place to Start

(Proverbs 11:23 KJV)  The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

Is your “desire” (8378) “good” (2896b) because you are “righteous” (6662) or are you righteous because you are good?  Which comes first?  Which is the cause and which is the effect?  Is it a goal or a condition?  The clear statement is that they go together.

It is also not a guarantee that everything the righteous do will turn out good.  Even the best of intentions can fail or be misguided.  Good people can be manipulated.  To me welfare programs have been a total failure.  They have ended up damaging millions while they might help a few.  I think we have seen the same thing with civil rights activity like affirmative action.  They start out with the best of intentions and end up becoming tools of poverty and discrimination.

So?  We do need to think, observe and be discerning.  We cannot be naive and simplistically trusting.  At the same time we can take some comfort that if our hearts are right, our intentions will be for the good.  It is a place to start.