Be Good

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. – Deuteronomy 10:17-18

When a person comes to faith in Jesus, though at the time he might not realize it, the Holy Spirit of God comes into his life and takes up residence. From that point on, God wants that Christian to walk in the Spirit and bear fruit through his life. Part of that fruit is goodness, which is the fruit of the Spirit we are going to discuss today. We must first be good before we can start doing good. And in order to be good, we must realize that goodness can only come from the Lord, not from anything we’ve done. Once we acknowledge this truth, we can begin showing goodness to the people around us.

Goodness is loving the right things and living the right way. With this definition in mind, let’s look at three barometers you can use to measure just how good you really are.

Goodness is simply godliness in action. The Lord defines this type of godliness clearly in His Word. “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:17-18). Part of being good and godly is helping those who are in need. It’s doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, for the right people. Goodness means treating others the way Jesus would treat them, with love, care, honor, and respect.

Dear Father, thank you for being such a good God and for setting an example of what it looks like to be good to others. I pray that you would grow me in goodness and godliness, and that you would give me opportunities to show your goodness to those who need it. Amen.