Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The dictionary defines goodness as “being morally good or virtuous.” A good person has “qualities of character or conduct that entitle the possessor to approval and esteem.” Goodness is closely related to kindness, for kind people graphically demonstrate that they are good.
When we are with good people, we feel at ease and can relax. But it’s not just humans who can perceive goodness. Animals are actually far better at sensing when a person is good than humans are.
Years ago, my dad nearly died in a terrible car accident. After weeks in the hospital, Dad was allowed to come home, probably because my mother was a trained nurse. It took more than six months before Dad could get around without crutches; meanwhile, the farm work had to continue. We had an “Old McDonald” type farm with milk cows, beef cattle, pigs, and chickens. Lacking mechanization, we cared for all the animals by hand. This meant that the cows had to be milked twice a day, while all the animals had to have feed and water available. I was only seven years old, and my brothers were four and two, so we were little help. My parents hired an older bachelor who had worked on several local farms to help out with the work, but we soon discovered a major problem: The second this man came close to any animals, they panicked! We had moved the milk cows over to my grandparents’ place, which was connected to ours by a series of back lanes. When this man entered the milking parlor, the cows went berserk and jumped every fence between my grandparents’ farm and ours to escape. My grandparents took over the milking. (Yes, Grandma helped. As a good Swedish American girl, she learned to milk cows by hand at an early age.)
When this man entered the pig pasture, the pigs immediately ran as far away from him as possible, clustering at the far end of the pig pasture. The beef cattle huddled in one corner of their pen. My grandmother was very proficient at caring for chickens, so this man never entered the chicken house. To look at this man, one would think there was nothing wrong; however, the animals knew differently. Finally, Dad assigned this man to care for the crops along with help from our neighbors, but once the crisis was over, we never employed him again.
Most of us want to be good, but persisting in goodness is tough. So many times, we fall short of doing the best thing in a given situation. We allow prejudices and pet peeves to get in the way of being consistently good to those around us. If we were to wear “Goodness Meters” around our necks, you would see the needle on the meter fluctuating wildly, depending on the time of day, how well we have slept, how work is going, how encouraging our friends and coworkers have been, etc.
Compare that erratic behavior with the goodness of God. A popular Christian song says, “God is good all the time!” This statement is true. Goodness is one of God’s many qualities, and God remains good, no matter the circumstances. God says in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” God chose the people of Israel, and even when the Israelites proved faithless, God continued to be good to them as long as they would let Him. God only removed the Shekinah glory from the temple in Jerusalem when idolatrous believers took over every part of the temple.
The question for us is this: How can we be good when we fail so frequently? The blessed answer is that by ourselves, we cannot be completely good. But God has promised to send His Holy Spirit to all believers. When we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives and hearts, the Holy Spirit changes us into the spiritual image of God. The more we yield to the Holy Spirit, the more radically He can change us. Such change is a life-long process; the longer we go on as believers, the more the Holy Spirit will work in us.
Want to be good? Ask God to send His Holy Spirit into your heart and then give the Holy Spirit permission to change you. You might not see the difference, but others certainly will!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we confess that we are sinners and there is no goodness in us at all. Please send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to change us into Your image. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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