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Goodness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and it appears in Galatians 5:22-23 right after kindness. At first glance, it may seem that there is not that much that separates goodness and kindness. But when you dig a little deeper, you will find that they are significantly different. Kindness is an outward expression of how someone feels on the inside, whereas goodness is expressed based on who someone is on the inside.
Goodness is derived from the word “good,” which means to be right, approved, or beneficial. Someone cannot be kind unless they are good, and a good person will be habitually kind. You could say that kindness is generated out of a person’s inherent goodness. Goodness is an expression of righteousness, and it is exemplified by moral excellence.
As Biblical Entrepreneurs, we are called to be good, first and foremost, before anything else. When God made humankind and everything on the earth, He took an intentional pause and inspected His creation and saw that it was good - and not just good; He saw that “indeed it was very good.”
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. – Genesis 1:31
When God acknowledged that man was alone and needed a companion like himself, He said it was “not good” that man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). The union between man and woman was something else that God thought was good. In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), when the servants who had been entrusted with the two and the five talents multiplied them, the master called them “good and faithful”.
It is clear that we are called to be good, but what does it really mean?
When the Bible instructs us to be good, it is not talking about being good in and of ourselves - it is talking about the perfect expression of God’s nature manifested both in us, and also through us. It is a good that is rooted in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Goodness is allowing God to communicate and express His nature through us. That is why when Jesus was called “good” (in His humanity, not His divinity), He said no one is good except God.
So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” - Matthew 19:17 (NKJV)
How can we walk in goodness?
· Reject evil in all its expressions (Proverbs 8:13)
· Recognize that there is nothing inherently good in you (Romans 7:18)
· Embrace God’s goodness (Psalm 31:19)
· Allow the Holy Spirit to express Himself through you (Galatians 5:22-25)
Being good is not something we do - it is who we are in Christ. The benefit of walking in goodness is that we are able to become the perfect reflection of who God is.
This, in turn, enables a desire in others to know and love him.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:19 (NKJV)
My prayer for you this week is that God will give you the grace to walk in goodness, so that you may reflect His image and likeness and be a Christlike and fruitful vessel to advance His Kingdom in all the earth.
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