David Davolt in South Asia with IDES partners helping plant a tree to signal new life at a new legacy church plant.
We are given some good guidelines for living Christ-centered lives in Galatians chapter five. We are told to serve one another humbly in love. Verse 14: “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your Neighbor as yourself.” This seems simple enough and yet it doesn't always come naturally.
One reason I enjoy working for IDES, is that IDES …exists to meet the physical and spiritual needs of suffering people throughout the world in the name Jesus Christ…By Expanding Help & Hope through the support of churches and individuals TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR in their time of need. Our mission is all about caring in love for those in need. Who wouldn’t want to get behind that?
Paul tells the Galatians to walk by the Spirit – not the flesh.
He says: “Don’t do whatever you want but be led by the Spirit.
He then warns them not to live in the flesh and lists a bunch of bad things…warning them that practicing bad habits will not enable you to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Then he lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, GOODNESS, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
He concludes his thoughts saying: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
Keeping in step with the Spirit is a daunting expectation, something we all need to work on more each day. For this short thought I want to focus on just one fruit of the Spirit GOODNESS.
GOODNESS is not something we can provide on our own – GOODNESS comes from God.
William Tyndale said: God’s goodness is the root of all goodness; and our goodness, if we have any, it springs from God’s goodness.
Another great theologian, A. W. Tozer said: The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than anything we will ever be able to understand.
GOODNESS is virtue and holiness in action.
Men love action, we like to fix things, we like to play hard, we like to be busy, we even like to tear things apart, and some of you can even put them back together! Generally speaking, MEN LIKE ACTION. GOODNESS takes action.
My Father grew up on a poor farm in Missouri. He graduated early from high school and took a mechanics class at a Vocational College. Dad told me stories of how he would take apart any kind of engine or mechanical device and put it back together just for the fun of it. He went on to become a mechanical engineer. I am really good at taking things apart but putting them together again is another story.
Goodness is not just keeping busy, it is doing good deeds motivated by righteousness and a desire to be a blessing to others.
Goodness is not a quality we can create in ourselves, as evidenced in James 1:17, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above”.
Goodness reflects God’s character and involves actively doing good and showing kindness to others.
IDES is in the business of doing GOOD to others, it might be cleaning out a flooded home or bringing supplies and food to those in need, or it could be teaching people to make the most of farming.
DOING GOOD should be our goal each day.
God, by nature, is inherently good. He is the ultimate example of goodness.
Psalm 34:8 reminds us that GOD IS GOOD. He did not obtain it from another source. HE IS GOOD.
People can have good traits or do good deeds, but goodness is not in our character. Our goodness can only come from God.
Billy Graham once said, “God’s goodness is a gift beyond measure, showered upon us with every breath we take and every beat of our hearts.”
The Bible is clear that in and of ourselves, mankind is incapable of being or doing good (Isaiah 64:6; Titus 3:5; Ecclesiastes 7:20). It is God who works in a believer’s life to become more like Jesus (Galatians 5:16), which is the whole point of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) — to make us into the image of Christ.
God is our perfect role model. Being good, demonstrating good, for the purpose of benefiting others, is what God demonstrated to all of mankind (Romans 5:8)… God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Everything God brings into a believer’s life ultimately is for our good (Romans 8:28) to make us more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). God’s goodness offers us security and encouragement (Psalm 52:1). God will always be good. His character does not change (Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6).
As the characteristic of goodness grows in us, we will be acting out God’s love by helping others. This can only occur through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Thomas Paine once said, “The moral duty of man consists of imitating the moral goodness of God, manifested in the creation, toward all creatures.”
Have you seen the movie Evan Almighty, with Morgon Freeman, who plays God? In the movie he speaks to Evan’s wife, Joan. Joan’s prayer is that her family would grow closer together, but now her husband has seemingly gone off the deep-end and is building an ark, creating chaos for them all. “God” shows up as a waiter where she’s having breakfast.
After she pours her heart out to him, the “waiter” says, “Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does He give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does He give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does He give them opportunities to love each other?”
Life is not always easy, and we all face many challenges that make living out GOODNESS a struggle – God gives the opportunities every day to show and live out GOODNESS. SO…if GOODNESS is love in action and only GOD is truly GOOD…what are some things we can do to practice and grow in the GOODNESS of God, and make GOODNESS a part of our everyday, all-day, life?
WE could:
Help an elderly neighbor with their yard work
Volunteer to help a student with school work’
Go to Africa to help and teach young people
Help with projects around the church building
Provide a meal for someone
Goodness is a vital aspect of the Christian faith, representing the moral excellence and kindness that should characterize the lives of those who follow Christ.Goodness is not a quality we can manufacture on our own. Allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us, we grow the quality of goodness. The Holy Spirit in us allows us to experience the fullness of God’s goodness. When we trust and follow our creator’s instruction, we are cultivating the spiritual fruit of God’s original goodness breathed into all creation.
What will you do this week to practice GOODNESS?
Written by David Davolt
IDES Northwest Regional Developer