The Fruit Of The Spirit Is ~ Goodness

Thank you, Heather, for hosting this series!
Today, eight ladies and I are writing a series based on the Fruits of the Spirit taken from Galatians 5:22-23. We pray that the topics discussed will inspire and encourage you to draw closer to God as you endeavor to walk in the Spirit. This is my small part of the conversation, Goodness.

Goodness is the state or quality of being good; excellence, virtue.  The word goodness in Galatians 5:22 is used in the sense of being good, and not in the sense of doing good, as it is in other verses.
Do we do our best on a daily basis to be a good person?  Sadly, many make the mistake of thinking that being good will get them a passage to heaven, but it is only through repentance of sins and faith in Jesus Christ that guarantees a home in heaven – no good works can be added to this.


We have to on a daily basis choose to be good and virtuous in our~
*Thinking ~ Goodness in our mind
What do we dwell on throughout the day?  Do we dwell on good thoughts?  This world is full of worldly and fleshly things to clutter our minds and if we don’t ask God for a spirit of goodness, we’ll find ourselves thinking evil thoughts like those in the world. Reading our Bibles every day and dwelling on the things of God will help us think good.

*Attitude ~ Goodness toward others
Do we have a critical spirit within ourselves toward our husband, children, friends, other family members?  Seek the good in others and don’t dwell on their negative qualities.  It’s a conscience decision everyday to force ourselves to focus on the positive things of others.  Do you know people that won’t go to church because they can only have a “bad” attitude towards people?  They seriously sit in a church service looking at all those around them and thinking constant negative thoughts, instead or worshiping and thinking of the worthy One that gave His life for us, who deserves our undivided attention and commands us to esteem others better than ourselves.
The devil will do all he can to make us think on the short comings of our children.  As moms, we need to train them and redirect bad behavior to good behavior, but don’t make the easy mistake of focusing on their bad traits and developing a wrong attitude toward them.  Our children need us to extend a spirit of goodness.
The devil tempts us to focus on the negative things of our husbands – socks left on the floor, cold dinner awaiting him, too much time spent on hobbies, etc.  Do we consider that we have many negative things that our husband could focus on?  Have a spirit of goodness towards your husband.  Think good thoughts and serve him with good actions.  It will go a long way towards having a heavenly marriage.
Also, don’t focus on how others have wronged you, but forgive and allow God to help you think good towards them.  No matter how much someone may have hurt you, yes, God can help you extend goodness to them.  I have seen some people forgive and have a spirit of goodness towards people that have done unthinkable things to them.  Only God can do this.

*Appearance and Conduct ~ Outward goodness
One of the words in the definition of goodness is being virtuous.  A lot of clothes today are designed to show off our bodies, but this is not being virtuous.  We also need to be morally good in our conduct.  Ladies, be sure to not be improper in your conduct to men.  It especially concerns me when I see married women acting in an improper way towards married men – rubbing their arm, hugging inappropriately, trying to be “friends” with them by spending too much time with them, or contacting them on their phone just to chat.  This conduct is not virtuous, nor is it pleasing to God.  Many, many women of our day are too bold and do not conduct themselves virtuously.  When we are married, we no longer have the freedom to be friends with other men like we did as a single lady; we have a responsibility to build a friendship with only one man now: our husbands.

 *Honesty ~ Goodness in our ways
 Being good will cause us to be as honest as “honest Abe”.  We should not be deceitful or tell “white lies”.  Our children will pick up on how honest we are, and if they discover in us anything except complete honesty, we will breed bad character and dishonesty in our children.  Do you “lie” about your child’s age to get them into a place of entertainment for free or less money?  Do you give money back to the cashier when she accidentally gives you too much back???

*Entertainment ~ Goodness with our time
 The things we watch and read will affect our choices to be good.  I am honestly shocked at some of the things that Christians read, like worldly romance novels.  There is also a wide variety of t.v. programs and movies that flaunt ungodly behavior and morals – we may think that watching things that teach contrary to the Bible won’t affect us, but they do.  Harry Potter and vampires are from the dark side of the world.  Bold, brash, morally loose women on t.v. shows are not who we want to pattern ourselves after.  Like it or not, you will become more like those that you watch or read about.  Doing these things will affect your spirit of goodness.

*Jesus is our perfect example of goodness.  Goodness is a euphemism of God.  He extends goodness to us all on a daily basis and I’m so thankful for what He is in my life.  Anything good in me whatsoever is because of Him.

(photo credit)