Fruit of the Spirit - Goodness

Good morning, Five Minute Families! Thank you for joining us this morning as we continue gathering the fruit of the Spirit as we keep in step with God’s Holy Spirit.Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-controlThis week is goodness. Goodness is defined in most dictionaries as ‘the quality of being morally good or virtuous.’ Because of the sometimes interchanging of words of kindness, goodness, compassion, and more, we need to define goodness in order to be able to distinguish it. God’s word uses it with righteous, kindness, truth, and more, but there is an inherent distinction. So, for our purposes, we will define goodness as ‘the actions which are taken to improve the health, happiness, or well-being of others.’Let’s pause there a moment and think of God’s goodness. At our Father’s Day service, a couple sang the song “Goodness of God.” God’s goodness is summarized in that song with two ACTIONS… He leads us through the fire and He runs after us. These are actions, folks. Just as in John 3:16 “For God loved - AN ACTION WORD, by the way - For God so loved the world that He gave - another action - GAVE his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Psalm 119:68 says it straight out, “You ARE good and DO good; teach me your statutes.”We are to learn his statutes, so, let’s discuss what we consider the five ACTIONS of goodness every five-minute family should engage in to exhibit the fruit of the spirit attribute of goodness.First, we must realize that we HAVE good. Having good - We have God’s spirit of goodness indwelling us. Psalm 34:8, says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” and Nahum 1:7, says, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. We must study God’s word to better exhibit the attribute of goodness.” We must actively study God’s word to know that we have his goodness in us.Next, we are to BE good. Being good in this instance is to believe the TRUTH of God’s goodness and our ability to be good, too. Remember here Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”If we HAVE good and are BEING good, then now, we must have an action of goodness that moves outward. DO good. Doing good - the actual act of good works. Hebrews 13:16 charges us, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” And Matthew 5:16 likewise says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”Another OUTWARD action we must take is to SEE good. Seeing good - actively looking for the good in others. Genesis 1:27 demonstrates that we must always keep in mind that others are created in the image of God. “So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” Thus, we must SEE God - and God’s goodness in others. Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.”And, last for today, though certainly not least is that we are to SPEAK good, and no, we are not saying ‘speak well.’ Speaking good is to make sure we keep cruel - or even sometimes teasing - words out of our mouths and speak good words that are intentional to build up and encourage good acts within the other person as well. As Colossians 4:6 reminds us, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” And Ephesians 4:29 reiterates, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”Demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit is possible for all believers. You may have made numerous, embarrassing, felonious mistakes in your past, BUT GOD now indwells within you, and you are ABLE. You have God’s GOODNESS, and his goodness takes action. Take action today to remember that you have good, are good, should do good, should see good, and can speak good to each person who crosses your path today, starting with your family!Be blessed!