Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

Transformed by the Spirit, our hearts become consumed with the desire to do good, to be kind, to protect others, to love and care for people. Goodness is not something we do; it is someone we become. Though our goodness eventually shows up in our actions, our actions aren’t what make us good. Goodness is a state of being.

As we’re trying to discern and move toward a greater understanding of goodness in our conflicts and disagreements, we should probably look back at why Paul is talking about the fruit of the Spirit at all. He’s talking about when Christians get in horrible fights with each other and how we can tell if we’re entering those arguments empowered by the Spirit or not. As we mentioned in Day 1, Paul says that the entire law—every rule of God—can be fulfilled by following a singular rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14).

So the true mark of goodness may well be the transformative power of loving one’s neighbor, emerging from our lives as a deeply rooted part of our being. Like Paul, pray for each other that God will fulfill our “every desire for goodness” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). And as our goodness grows, we can move away from legalism, our external attempts to force goodness.

When we allow our love for others to guide us, the Holy Spirit’s goodness will increasingly well up and overflow . . . even in the midst of complicated disagreements.

Questions for Reflection

In your prayer time today, seek God’s forgiveness for times when you have done harm to others. Ask him to fill you with more and more of his goodness.