Fruit of the Spirit-Goodness

“So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest. So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith.” Galatians 6:9-10

 

The fruits of kindness and goodness go hand in hand. They are even synonyms of each other! We can’t be good to others if we first don’t decide to be kind to them. Goodness is showing others the love of God by caring for them the way Jesus cares for them. Hebrews 10:24 says, ‘Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.’ Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus ‘gave himself for us’ so that we would ‘belong to him alone’ and would be ‘eager to do good.’

 

Jesus died not only to save us from eternal torment and separation from God, but He also ‘called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.’ (2 Tim. 1:9) We should always be ready to do His Will and follow His example by caring for others and being good to them. If you are good, everyone will know by the fruit of your labor and mouth (Matt. 7:17-19, 12:33-35) 1 Thessalonians 5:15 tells us to ‘aim to do good to one another and to all people.’ Ephesians 2:10 tells us that through ‘our union with Christ Jesus’, God has already ‘created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.’ There are things out there that God wants us to do and people He wants us to touch and lead to His Son, their Savior, but we have to be willing to follow His Will and be His hands and feet!

 

We should do good deeds because it is one way to show the love of God and to put His teachings and example into practice. We don’t need to be good and obey the Law of Moses in order to save ourselves because Jesus has already saved us. Nothing we could do would be enough to make up for the sin in our lives. So Jesus came to save us from that sin and make us right with God through our faith in Him, not by our actions. (Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 3:4-5). Ephesians 5:10 tells us to ‘learn what pleases the Lord’ and Hebrews 13:16 gives us one answer: ‘Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.’

 

He does warn us, however, not to do our good deeds publicly, but privately so that we will get a much greater reward from our Father in Heaven and not the fleeting respect from the people of this world. Ephesians 6:8 reminds us that ‘the Lord will reward each of us…for the good work we do.’ We should always strive for God’s rewards and His approval, not those of the people around us. Only God should be glorified through our good works and not ourselves (Matt. 5:16, 6:1).

 

There are people around you that only you can help bring to God because He made you for that purpose. There are things that need to be done by you and you alone. We must get to work, doing good and helping bring the people of this dying world to life. We never know when Jesus will come, so we must make sure the time we have left isn’t wasted on the things of this world but on doing the will of God.

 

‘But you, friends, must not become tired of doing good.’ 2 Thessalonians 3:13

Kayley