Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.” You may have heard about the fruit of the Spirit and wondered what it is and how it relates to our Christian faith.
In this series, each fruit will be explored and related to our everyday lives. Just like physical fruit need time to grow, the fruit of the Spirit will not ripen in our lives overnight. As we mature in our faith, all the characteristics of our spiritual fruits will grow as well.
The sixth fruit of the Spirit is goodness. What exactly is goodness? The word ‘good’ is used so frequently in our everyday lives that it almost loses its meaning. For example, how many times a day do we say, “good morning” and “good luck” and “good work”? But, the Bible tells us that the word ‘good’ actually means holy, pure and righteousness. Literally goodness is godliness.
Goodness can often be seen in our actions, but our heart also has to be pure. The goodness of Christ is to be demonstrated in our lives every day. Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
God calls us to be filled with goodness from the inside out, being holy in what we do and say because Christians should have a heart that seeks goodness. We are not to just do good works, because doing good works without a good heart is empty.
The ‘goodness’ described as a fruit of the Spirit is not merely moral behavior, but an excellence of character. This goodness is only possible through God’s grace and mercy.
We often say in church, “God is good all the time. And all the time God is good.” Does this mean that our lives are always good? No, of course not. It means that God is practicing the fruit of the spirit of goodness—godliness. God is good, and He wants us to grow in the fruit of goodness so we can live a fulfilling life full of righteous love.
