Goodness - An Action

Fruit of the Spirit - Goodness

Our first devotional on goodness is from Wilbert Yee, one of the elders from the English congregation. He is also involved in making sure our tech works at church and trouble shoots our issues! Wilbert describes goodness as not just a character but an action! 

In the book of Galatians, Paul talks about the evidence that Christ has given to us when we allow God to have access to our lives. We’ve been talking about the fruit of Spirit found in Galatians 5:22. The specific fruit that I wanted to highlight is Goodness. What is Goodness and what does it mean to have this particular fruit of the Spirit? We can always look at this word from a non church or perhaps a generic term which can be defined as “of favourable character or tendency”. But it is broad and vague and there is certainly more to this word in it’s meaning than simply “of favourable character”.

Like all the other words in this passage, there is an action to be done. You know what that action is? It is an attitude of generous compassion towards others, which is to say that someone who processes the fruit of goodness is more than happy to do far more than what is required by justice. If we were to use studying for an exam as a metaphor, what Paul is talking about here is saying “Don’t just get 50% to pass the course, strive for more”. You can say that goodness is a form of love to take care of others. To not simply be a spectator but rather a committed participant in the interest of the welfare of others. “If you succeed, then I succeed” mentality.

If we were thinking about contrasts, the opposite of goodness is selfishness. Selfishness looks inward to yourself while goodness looks outward to others. Goodness is an action of doing what is right for others in your respective sphere of influence vs. selfishness which is about doing things you think is right for yourself.

Questions to ask:

• What have I done this week that has helped someone above and beyond simply what everyone expects us to do?
• Have I taken time to slow down and notice how my actions affect those around me?
• Have I asked God how to process this fruit in such a way that people around me will see God's goodness in me?