Cultivating Spiritual FruitSample

Goodness

"He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!" Psalm 103:5

If your life looks like mine, I will assume that it is full, busy, and disorganized. Yet continually we strive to fill our days, our minds, and our lives with good things. We don’t often take the time to recognize the good things in life until we stop all our “doing” to gather around a table full of food or a tree fully decorated with packages underneath.

We spend our time focused on what we think will bring us good things only to reap more worries; our striving efforts often leading to failures and disappointments. Eventually, the search for goodness or fullness continually haunts us. And we don’t consider it “good” unless it benefits us —usually in our finances, future, or fame. Rarely is “good” equated with diversity, disease, or disappointments.

The beauty of the truth in this verse is that it reminds us we have a “filled” life - our lives are full, significant, and our lives matter. The difference isn’t found in the amount or the size of the filling, but in the Source of our fulfillment. Who we look to for our filling is important when it comes to giving meaning to our time, values, and productivity. Psalm 103:5 reminds us of that Source - God fills our lives to the full out of His goodness.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” (Ps 34:8) The more you intimately connect with God, the more you become convinced of His goodness. God is the source of all good on the earth and in Heaven. He is the Living God who longs to participate in your life and wants to fill you. Remember, we are positioned by love to be a vessel of His goodness. Sometimes God’s blessings come in mysterious ways, even through pain, trouble, and disease.

During such difficult times, you can know God’s goodness. Your understanding may fail at times, but your trust will keep you close to His goodness. The Lord knows your anxious thoughts, your broken places, and your empty spaces. He knows it all and wants to fill you, mend you, and sustain you with His goodness. Let’s be people of God who bear His good fruit.

What (or who) do you look to for fulfillment in your life?