Personally I find it useful and refreshing to take a step by step look at the fruit the Holy Spirit wants to produce in our lives. I hope you are enjoying it as well, as we are beginning to see that we cannot force these things to grow in our lives and they cannot be learned.
It is super natural character of God Himself which will grow in us when we give room, when we yield our will to His.
What the Holy Spirit wants to produce in us, is truly beautiful: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithful-ness,gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Today I want to stop and think about goodness.
Goodness, that's an interesting one... We probably all know good people and maybe they do not even believe in God. Well, yeah, some people are simply more friendlier and more generous than others. Doing good is something we can learn from our parents, or in school, or from some kind of philosophical book. Is that the goodness the Bible talks about in this context? No, that is not the kind of goodness (friendliness, generosity, goodwill, grace, honesty, integrity, kindness, mercy, righteousness, beneficence, honor, humaneness, kindheartedness) when talking about the fruit of the Spirit.
The divine fruit 'goodness' goes much, much further than a positive human characteristic. We are talking about a goodness as mentioned in Luke 6:35 (GNT), Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Well, Jesus explains it in a way that leaves no discussion, don't you think? Doing good to our enemies. And then that last part, a real eye-opener... God is good to the ungrateful and wicked. Ouch, is that really true? I have never heard someone preach on that one...
Being good to ungrateful people... when we find ourselves doing that, we can be sure His character is being formed in us :)
I like how you explained this. It's easy to be good and nice to people we like. I struggle with showing kindness to those I feel dont deserve it. But I'm working on it. We attended a funeral this past week. I prayed for grace toward others...God was faithful.
ReplyDeleteIt comes natural to be good to nice people yes :) but it is super natural when we can be good to people who are not so nice. Thanks for stopping by Terri.
DeleteI agree, it is refreshing and "fruitful" to do this. :) Praying for His character to overtake mine more each day. Thanks for sharing, Marja.
ReplyDeleteI like that Karen, 'it is fruitful... ' Thanks!
DeleteThere are so many parallels with plants and the spirit. I think that's why it's important every now and then to take a breather and just sit down in nature and observe.
ReplyDeleteAmen, we should take more time to reflect and learn from nature, that can be a very fruitful experience too :)
DeleteHi Marja! Wow, I don't think I've ever heard anyone preach on God being good to the ungrateful either. But maybe that's kind of like the passage about it raining on the good and the evil?
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts about making 'doing good' a real and concrete movement in action and thought. It's not helpful to just possess goodness. We have to show it!
Wednesday blessings,
Ceil
Talking, or even reading, about goodness, is not the same as practicing it, right? That's why we need the help of the Holy Spirit all the time. Thanks for heading this way Ceil.
DeleteMarja: This makes me review whether I have exhibited His goodness to those around me. Thank you for opening my eyes to this.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you define terms. Sometimes we skim over words without really getting at their true meaning.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people do good deeds in hopes of gaining favor with God. It's an external thing. The fruit of the Spirit comes from a heart level.