THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: GOODNESS

 

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: GOODNESS

Gal. 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,…..NLT

What is goodness? Where does it come from? Who is good? Why is it important to know what goodness is? To begin with, goodness comes from God. In reality, apart from God, no one is good. We are all naturally born sinners. No amount of effort on our part can make us good. The Scriptures make it very clear, God alone is good. God cannot act in a way that is not good. We may not always see it, understand it, believe it, or accept it, but God is good. He knows always what He is doing and what is best. If we allow Him to work things out according to His will, everything will be good and He will be glorified. So, what is goodness?

Goodness is the purity of our hearts that motivates us to do what is morally right. We are good when we live by God’s standards. It is a desire to do what iis pleasing to God. It is honoring God in our living. It is honoring Him in our relationships.

Goodness enables us to look beyond the sins of others to see them as people of worth. It enables us to see people as people loved by God. No matter how evil a person may be, Jesus died for them. He desires that all would be saved. We may not be able to help some people to accept God’s love for them, but we should be vessels of God’s love to them. Instead of judging people as hopelessly lost and dismissing them from our hearts, we should pray for them and if we have the opportunity, try to help them out of their misery.

We are made good only through Christ. Living submissively to Christ and letting His righteousness and holiness rule our hearts makes us good. We may do many good things apart from Christ, but nothing we do makes us good in the sight of God. What we do apart from Christ will never get us into heaven, nothing. It is impossible to earn our way into God’s favor. Jesus alone is the way, truth, and life, and no one can approach God except through Him.  John 14:6

One of the ways to determine one’s goodness, is through the work of the Holy Spirit in them to make them holy. If a person is not progressing in holiness, he is not good before God.