The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness)

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life.’ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.” (Mark 10:17,18 NIV).

 Yes, God is good. We all know that. We’ve known that since we were little children--“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.” I’m sure you remember that children’s prayer of blessing before a meal. We also remember from memorizing Psalm 23. Verse six says, “Surely your goodness and love shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (NIV). David tells us that the goodness of the Lord is always with us, and we get to live in His house. A lesser-known Scripture, Nahum 1:7, says, “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” (NIV). This verse promises that through the goodness of God, He is our refuge--a safe place to be when trouble strikes. David tells us in Psalm 27:13, “I remain confident of this: "I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (NIV). The goodness of the Lord is bestowed upon us now, as Christians, while we are living on the earth. We don’t have to wait until we die to experience it.

 The goodness of God is a great joy and comfort for us, and it comes from His love for us. That is never going away. 

   But what about us, how can we be good, and does God expect us to be good? I can never be as good as God, but I can reflect His love and His goodness. Just like the moon shines by reflecting the light of the Sun, we can shine by reflecting the light of the Son. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God prepared us to do good: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV). God prepared good works for us even before we were born. He has faith that we will do them. Even though we may sometimes disappoint Him by our actions, He expects that we will do good works. Make no mistake, we as Christians are being watched by non-Christians to see if we really do walk our talk. Those are the silent sermons we preach. 

 We are directed by Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” (NIV). When we are attentive to God’s Word, living by its precepts, we are good witnesses of His goodness, and we can then draw people to Him, and that’s what we are told to do in the Great Commission--Matthew 28:18-20. In fact, God requires us to do good as it says in Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (NIV).

 Okay, we know that God is good and that He requires us to follow His lead and reflect His goodness by showing His love. All we have to do is to love mercy and walk humbly with our Lord.

Don't forget my new book, "The Magnet of God:  Creation Draws Us to Him," is now available on Amazon as a Kindle book.  The book contains 366 devotionals similar in form to this one--Scripture, photograph, and message.  To preview or buy the book go to Amazon and enter my name, "Edwin Croyle" in the search box.  The book will appear, and you can preview it there.  I hope that you like it.