Oh, My: Goodness! Our next Fruit of the Spirit is Goodness.
What does it mean to be good? Something good is described as having: moral excellence, virtue, generosity, or excellence of quality. Do these sound like a description of God? Of course! Because God IS GOOD! All the time!! And because, as a Fruit of the Spirit, Goodness is given to us to help us become more like Him.
Goodness knows
Goodness is one of those character traits that starts internally, but must be realize with external actions. And we have repeated commands throughout scripture to be good:
2 Peter 1:5-7, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, GOODNESS; and to GOODNESS, knowledge, (6) to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; (7) to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.”
Can you see how closely this list mirrors a list of the Fruit of the Spirit? Faith, GOODNESS, knowledge, self-control, perseverance (AKA long-suffering or patience), godliness, mutual affection, and love. So, if we add our mustard-seed of faith to our Fruit of the Spirit, GOODNESS, what will we get? A huge revolution in our lives, no doubt! This cascade list of awesome!
In Gal. 6:10, we are told, “So, then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Do we? I mean, do we do good at every opportunity? I realize that no church or church member is perfect, but I am confident in saying that the churches I’ve belonged to and most people I know could use an extra dose of GOODNESS from time to time. And I am confident we are capable of more because I’ve seen how people pitch in during times of crisis. But “at every opportunity” begs to be more frequent than that.
Goodness as a battle plan
There’s yet another reason for increasing your GOODNESS output, and we find it in Romans, 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Overcome evil with good. Have you noticed the world has become an ever-increasingly more evil place? And, if you haven’t noticed, why not?!
We now live in a world where:
- unborn children are murdered
- the value of your life may very well depend on your skin color
- authority has come to mean absolutely nothing
- our governmental leaders are disrespected at every turn
- the general population may listen more closely to a multi-million-dollar athlete than to a medical expert
- and much, much more
So, what do we do? How do we Overcome Evil with Good? Find a cause/source of evil and put GOODNESS to work against it. And “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (Rom. 12:9)
One More Tactic
Psalm 37:3, “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”
Faithfulness is our word for August, so stay tuned. Just know that God has your back as you push back against evil. (1 Peter 3:13) “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?” Need more info on what it means to be zealous? Check out this post from 2019.
Father God, Surround us with Your GOODNESS as we do battle in a world corrupted by so much evil. Empower us to do good at every opportunity to fight back against it. Remind us to always make a difference as representatives of Your Kingdom.
Thanks for dropping by today. If you are bothered by Worry or Fear, check out my FREE course: Less Fear, More Jesus here.
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