✝️Goodness is the sixth characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit. At first glance it seems like there is not much difference between kindness and goodness, but when you dig deep into the differences between these two words you see that they are significantly different. Kindness is an expression of how one feels on the inside while goodness is who one is on the inside. 💪Goodness is derived from the word “good,” which means to be right, approved or beneficial. Someone cannot be kind unless they are good. A good person is habitually kind. Goodness is an expression of righteousness. It is exemplified by moral excellence.

📯As Biblical Entrepreneurs, we are called to be good, first and foremost, before anything else. When God made humankind and everything on the earth, He took an intentional pause and inspected His creation and said it was good, and not just good; He said it was “very good.”

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good…” - Genesis 1:31a

⚖️When God acknowledged that man was alone and needed a companion like himself, He said it was not good that man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). The union between man and woman was something else that God thought was good. When the servants with the two and the five talents, in the parable, multiplied their talents, the master called them “good and faithful” (Matthew 25:21). We are called to be good, but what does it really mean?🔑

💎When the Bible instructs us to be good, it is not talking about being good in and of ourselves, but rather it is talking about the perfect expression of God’s nature manifested through us. It is a good that is rooted in the righteousness of Jesus. It is allowing God to communicate and express Himself through us. That is why Jesus (in His humanity, not His divinity), when called good, He said no one is good except God.

“So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.'” - Matthew 19:17a

How do you walk in goodness?

• Reject evil in all its expression (Proverbs 8:13)

• Recognize that there is nothing good in you (Romans 7:18)

• Embrace God’s goodness (Psalm 31:19)

• Allow the Holy Spirit to express Himself through you (Galatians 5:22-25)

🌏Being good is not something we do, it is who we are in Christ. The benefit of walking in goodness is that we are able to be the perfect reflection of who God is. This, in turn, enables a desire in others to know and love him.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:19

My prayer for you this week is that God will give you the grace to walk in goodness; that you may reflect His image and be a beneficial tool to advance His will in the earth.

Copyright © Patrice Tsague NPIM