The Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

Galatians 5:22-23

Have you ever been around a child or perhaps a puppy that just seemed to get into everything? You may have found yourself saying, "Can't you be good for just 5 minutes", or something to that effect. Bad behavior can be exhausting. Especially when we are the recipient of the mess that it makes. As Christians, this should not describe our behavior. We should not leave people in the aftermath of our conduct, and they wish that we could just be good for a little while. God's Spirit wants to work that in our lives!

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

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The Greek word translated "goodness" means "uprightness of heart". Sometimes we will do something that by the letter of the law is not right, but we say "but my motives were right". Other times we might do the right thing, but for the wrong reason. Neither of those describe what this word means. If we are "upright of heart", then we will do both the right thing, and it will be for the right reason.

A simplistic example of this would be a child cleaning their room. If asked why they were cleaning their room, the child might reply "so I don't get in trouble". The motivation is not obedience born from love of the parent, but rather fear of consequences. Chances are that the child's heart is not in actually cleaning their room. Many people do this every Sunday (or at least most). They go to church, not because they love God and His people, but rather because they fear either punishment or His withholding of "blessings". The action is good, but the motive is not.

The Holy Spirit led Solomon to write, "My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways" (Proverbs 23:26). If we want to be truly "good", we have to give God our heart and observe His ways. This is what it means to be a Christian. We do not simply take the title upon ourselves, but we try to be "Christ-like".

Another problem we have is we say we are "pretty good". In this case, "pretty" has come to mean "mostly good". However, it still leaves wiggle room for not doing good all the time. We allow space to do what we really want to do without truly conforming to the image of Christ. "Well, I only lose my temper and cuss people out every now and then, but I am much better than I used to be" or "I only go drinking with my friends on special occasions, but we always have a designated driver". It is saying "I will not be completely surrendered to Jesus. I will follow God up to this point, but after that I am kicking Him off the throne of my life."

The fruit of the Spirit is goodness because we are being completely obedient to God. It does not mean that we never mess up, but be assured, when you do mess up, it is because you were not following God. In that instance, you were not bearing fruit. If you do not care about bearing fruit, it could very well be that you do not have God's Spirit in you. That is a very different situation; one that I would love to talk with you privately about. Remember the fig tree that Jesus passed shortly before His crucifixion (Mark 11:12-14, 20-21)? It did not bear fruit when Jesus told it to, and He cursed it so that it never could bear fruit again. I think there is a lesson in there for us.

Father, thank You for wanting to make us in the image of Your Son. If we will surrender completely to You, goodness will flow from us. Help us to not have a desire to hold back part of our life from You. May we not cling to our sin that was crucified on the cross with Jesus. If anyone reads this and does not know You as their Lord and Savior, lead them to someone who will share the Gospel with them, for it is the power of God unto Salvation (Romans 1:16).