The Fruit of The Spirit ~ Goodness

GOODNESS
The first time ‘goodness’ shows up in Scripture is when Moses pleads with God: “Please, show me Your Glory” and God replies: “I will make all My GOODNESS pass before you.” Exodus 33:18-18

So much is said today about living for God’s Glory so it’s compelling to me that God equates His Glory with His Goodness. As I live each day if others are to experience His Glory I must be a vessel filled and overflowing with His goodness. People understand goodness towards them and so for me to serve Him effectively the fruit of His goodness must pour forth.

Moses could not see the face of God, but as the Lord passed by him, he proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and abounding in goodness and truth.” Exodus 34:6

He could not see the ‘face’ of God, yet he came face to face with the fullness of God. That will be the experience of others I meet each day as His goodness pours forth through me. They may not see God’s actual face, but through me they should come face to face His goodness.

David said in Psalm 16:2: “O my soul, you have said to the Lord, 'You are my LORD. My goodness is nothing apart from You.'” And so it is with me. My goodness dissipates in my fleshly attitudes and actions, but IN HIM, I live; IN HIM, I move; IN HIM I exist. It is out of this relationship with my Creator and Savor that His Goodness is known to me, and His Glory is visible through me.

Psalm 33:5 says “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” How is this possible, except His servants live in such a way that His goodness is seen and experienced by others.

Psalm 65:4 declares “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy temple.” And Psalm 107:9 assures us that “He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” Ephesians 5:8-10 reminds me “you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”

2 Thessalonians 1:11 exhorts us: “We pray for you that God would count you worthy of His calling, and fulfill the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the lord Jesus Christ.”

As I demonstrate goodness toward others, they experience the fruit of God’s own divine Glory. It is His heart that all walk as children of Light and not darkness. Through His servants, God will quench the thirst and hunger in me and in others because of, and by, and for the sake of His goodness. The outcome – that His Name is made glorious.

May your goodness, Lord, be evident through me today. May my life be a living testimony, an overflowing vessel of Your goodness so that those I come in contact with experience, as Moses did, the full measure of Your Glory.

The fruit of the Spirit is Goodness