Goodness for Goodness SAKE THE fruit of the spirit is Goodness Gal. 5:22
2Pe 1: 5 make every effort to add to your faith goodness. Eph 5: 9for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness. Ps 23:6Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
How do we define the word Good? We can say that was good food, it is good weather and that was a good report. We might say he did a good job or that was a good ways from here. Has any one ever told you go and have fun and be good? For some of us t o have fun and be good cannot be put together. In the dictionary there are 17 categories for the word Good. We even find in the Bible that the word good is used in different ways. The words good and goodness is used 619 times in the Bible.
How would you define the good life? Would we find it in food, toys, sports, clothes, wealth or looking good? Who sets the standard for looking good? We have white people who want to be tanned and black people who want to be white. We have places to go to get our hair colored, help lose weight, buy clothes and products that will take away wrinkles or age spots.
As I look in the Bible when it comes to the clothes we wear I found three things. We should dress modestly, not try to wear clothes that we look like the other sex and we should wear clean clothes. When it comes to good what does it take for you to feel good? Would you like a vacation, a better job, be pain free or be at parties all the time. We have heard the expression, “If it feels good, do it.” We might equate good with looking good or feeling good or having goods. How much do we have to have to feel good? We have choices about places we eat at, cars we drive, clothes we wear, where we place our money like CD’s, Stocks, IRA”s or a savings account. How many choices do we see when we go shopping for food?
The Bible’s standard for good is to be filled with goodness. This means being a good person and doing good to others. What is goodness? The Bible tells us that God created everything good in the beginning. He made everything for a purpose.
Let me state that Goodness is being what God meant for us to be. When we do what God intended for us to do we will feel good. EPH 2:10 “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” We are not saved by the good works that we do but we are saved that we might start doing good works. Goodness is a life style. What do we benefit from goodness? It causes us to have a good self-esteem. Feeling good about yourself does not come because you look good by the world’s standard, you feel good or that you have things. God’s purpose for you is that you do good and be good. We are not born good. Check out a baby or young child to see if we are good. We have to have our lives changed by the One who is Goodness. Our goodness does not come by man’s standard but What God expects. A boy came to his mother and told her he was eight feet tall. She asked to see his ruler and it was 6’ ruler.
Goodness only comes from God. When one believes and lets Christ in their life then God’s Goodness becomes apart of life. PH 2:13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” 1:6, 10 “I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.” “So that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” God puts a new desire and power in you to do what is right and good. God works from the inside out. Let us look at five ways of putting goodness in our lives:
1. We put Goodness into our lives as we read the Bible and understand it. We need to fill our minds and life with the living word of God. Our values that we have come from only two sources and those are the world and His Word. This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 PT 1:20-21 “you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Just because you own a Bible or listen to the Bible will not be good enough. You need to have the Bible in your mind. How did Jesus defeat the Devil’s temptation? He had the Bible in His mind. Can you really expect to believe the Bible if you have not read it and put it to work in your life? This brings to the question do you have the Word of God as a greater priority in your life that the newspaper, TV, radio or book you read. Which gets your best time? It is in the Bible that we get our absolutes for living. That is why some do not like the Bible because they do not want there to be an absolute on how we are to live. Back in the 60’s there was moment to change everything but they also did not want to have any laws or principles. If you take time to read the Bible and understand it and put its words into practice you will become a good person.
2. We put Goodness into our lives by guarding our minds. PH 2:5 ”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” We need to take control of our thought life. PR 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Sin starts in a man’s heart. LK 6:45 “A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.” What are you allowing to enter your mind? This week I was with another man and we saw a beautiful woman walking down the street. He oooed and Awed as he looked. I simply told him it was just a woman. What enters our minds comes easiest through the eye gate. What we watch on TV or in a movie or look at in will stay there a long time. Some have trouble finding the off button or the mute button. PH 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”
Paul understood the influence of one’s thoughts on one’s life. What a person allows to occupy his mind will sooner or later determine his speech and his action. Paul’s exhortation to "think about such things" is followed by a second exhortation, "put it into practice. The combination of virtues listed in is sure to produce a wholesome thought pattern, which in turn will result in a life of moral and spiritual excellence.
When we allow the right things to enter our minds goodness will in our lives.
3. We put goodness in our live by developing convictions.
This has to do with what we stand for. If you do not stand for something you will fall for anything. We live in an age where it seems we are to be tolerant for any thing. We are to be open-minded. Does an open mind mean that you might lose your brains? Let us deal with the difference between opinion and conviction. Opinion is something you can give without meaning. Conviction is something you believe so strongly that you are willing to die for it. An opinion is something you can argue about but a conviction is a belief that is a solid part of your life. Take for instance the word hate. We have all heard of the hate crimes which seem to be geared to protect a certain class of people. Did you know what it says in RM 12:9 “Don’t just pretend that you love others? Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.” We are to hate what is wrong or evil. Evil hurts and destroys people. Jesus in His goodness stood for what was right and stood against what was wrong. To let Goodness rule in our lives we have to take a stand against evil. “All that is necessary for the triumph for evil is for good men to do nothing.” When you stand for your convictions do not expect to be popular. Have you ever been called a fanatic because you took a stand? The more we love Jesus and follow Him the more the world around us will not like us. There are people today who hate good. One man running for office has voted always for abortions to be done. The only people for abortion are those who are alive. Jesus lived a perfect life and they nailed Him to a cross. With deep convictions we will be full of Goodness.
4. We put Goodness in our lives by being different. The world around us teaches us that we should not disturb what is going on. When we go in the public we are to act, talk, dress and smell alike so we will fit in. If goodness is on our inside many a time we will have to stand alone. 3 JN 11. "Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." Shad rack, Me shack and Abedengo did not go along and ended up in a fiery furnace. Which would we call you, a thermostat (controls the temperature) or a thermometer (tells what the temperature is)? 1 PT 3:11 “Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard at living in peace with others.” Goodness is more than avoiding evil for it pursues doing good. Do people know you are full of goodness and look to you for what is right?
5. WE PUT ON GOODNESS AS WE MEET WITH OTHER BELIEVERS. HB 10:24-25 let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The early Christians met together it says in the book of Acts to give support and encourage on another. I do not know how some survive on just getting together once a week with other believers. We have Bible studies on Sunday and Wednesday Evenings and have S. S. so that we help each other in our faith walk. Many churches today have cell groups that meet on week nights. We live in an evil world and need to gather around His word and pray for each other so that we might not give into temptation that is thrown at us. You do not find soldiers out fighting the battle alone. They depend on each other and go in groups. We are in a battle where the enemy is fierce and desires to destroy us. Maybe some do not realize the intense spiritual battle that is going on around us. When we meet together we get fueled up in His word and prayer so we can face the enemy. I would not be where I am if it had not been for the goodness in other Christians that have helped me. We take on Goodness as we are around those who also are full of goodness.
GAL 6:9 “So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” The way this is done is to get the Bible into your life, guard your mind, stand by your convictions, have courage to be different and meet regularly with other Christians for support and encouragement. The challenge from God’s word for today is to let your goodness be the influence in this world that makes a difference.
