Appreciate the Good

Appreciate the Good

By Maria Fontaine

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One of you wrote me after listening to a song that I had posted on my website, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord,” and drew my attention to a news article that outlined the life story of the author and singer of that song. The article explains that Ray Boltz, the artist, grew up as a Christian, was married and had children, and then at a certain point in his life divorced his wife and became gay, joining a gay and lesbian Christian church. The person who wrote me about this wondered if I had known that information before I posted the song.

Well, I didn’t know that information, and it was a bit surprising to me. But I still appreciate the song, and I don’t feel that this person’s lifestyle choices change the fact that the song has beautiful truth in it and a good spirit. I’m thankful for the way that song has probably motivated many people in the world to do more for the Lord, and I’m thankful that this man who wrote the song is still witnessing and testifying about Jesus, and probably reaching people that some others may be too self-righteous or exclusive to reach.

As I was thinking about why the Lord allowed me to post this song without knowing that information, I realized that maybe it was so that I could share this with you—that we don’t have to embrace everything about a person in order to appreciate the good that they do. We don’t have to agree with all their lifestyle choices, or everything that they believe, in order to recognize and appreciate and even use one aspect of something they have done or said that is good or beautiful or the truth. We can choose the good, appreciate it, use it, be edified by it, and also recognize at the same time that we probably wouldn’t want to embrace absolutely everything about the person.

If we can take on this attitude, it will help us to be much better witnesses. It will help us to find points of common ground with people who have very different beliefs than we do, and we’ll be able to use that common ground to give them Jesus and the answers that we have.

We accept the good and beautiful and inspiring things that many people do or have given us, even though some of them may also do things that we don’t agree with or support, or may have even committed very great sins. If we judged on the basis of some of these specific sins that we abhor or can’t accept or agree with, then we wouldn’t accept the Psalms, because David was a murderer.1 And we couldn’t appreciate Moses or his example of leadership, or the first five books of the Bible that were authored by him, for that matter, because he killed a man in anger.2 We wouldn’t appreciate and benefit from a good deal of the New Testament, because Peter denied Jesus, and Paul was previously Saul, and he caused terrible trouble for the early church.3 We would have little to no inspired music if we started to dissect the lives of those who wrote or produced each song. For that matter, we’d have very little in life that we could appreciate or benefit from, because no one is perfect!

Where would we draw the line?

The point is, when we see a beautiful piece of art, or hear some beautiful music, we can appreciate the inspiration that we know God gave the artist or composer, even if they weren’t living for God or didn’t know Him personally. Whenever something is beautiful or heavenly, they obviously got their inspiration from Him, because “every good and perfect gift is from above.”4

When someone is doing something for the Lord or trying to do something to change the world or to speak up for their faith or to fight injustice or to help the poor, we can appreciate them for that and pray for them and support them in the good they’re doing. We don’t have to agree with their every belief or choice in life.

Think about Jesus and His interactions with mankind when He was on earth. He embraced and welcomed people who had made choices that He certainly didn’t agree with, but that wasn’t what mattered to Him. What mattered was that they wanted His love, and He gave it freely.

If Jesus, perfect and without sin, was that accepting and welcoming of everyone, how can we do less?

Let’s look for the good more—appreciate the good that people are doing, or the truth they’ve found and are sharing with others, or the knowledge or skill they have that we and others can benefit from.

That kind of attitude will make it much easier for us to be good ambassadors for our King, and we’ll automatically carry a lot more of His humble, accepting, unconditional love.

Originally published May 2009. Updated and republished July 2012.
Read by Bethany Kelly.


1 See 2 Samuel 11.

2 Exodus 2:11–12.

3 Matthew 26:69–75; Acts 8:1–3.

4 James 1:17.

Posted in: Audio, Humility, Maria Fontaine, Positive Thinking, Values