Oh My Goodness!

There is no one who is good, except by the Spirit. Goodness (Greek = agathosyne), as described in Galatians 5:22, is something you become by continually acting with goodness towards to another. You cannot be good in a vacuum. To be good, we must have an opportunity to practice goodness with others.

It’s much harder this way, isn’t it? When no one is around to irritate me or get in my way, I find it easy to exhibit goodness. It’s when my Man other people are around, the deficit I have in goodness is apparent. The beautiful truth is we are not expected to have goodness apart from the Spirit. The degree to which I am good is the degree to which the Holy Spirit is at work in my life to change my heart. Change the heart, and the behaviour changes.

Goodness, as well as any other aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, isn’t produced by striving. Have you ever noticed a fruit tree strive to make fruit? Jesus said if we stay connected to the trunk of the tree (vine), we will bear fruit, period.

I am not suggesting we bear no responsibility to practice goodness, when presented with opportunities. We always have a choice but the one thing I remembered from physics class applies here: a body in motion stays in motion and a body at rest, stays at rest. We need to position ourselves for the fruit of goodness to be cultivated. Keep the momentum going, stay connected and watch goodness flourish.