Ever think much about the quality of “goodness”? It’s always sounded really vanilla and fuzzy to me, but recently I listened to a message my friend Heather Zempel preached on this fruit of the Spirit. I was both convicted and encouraged (the sign of a great sermon!).
She was clear, making sure her audience understood that our salvation is not dependent on our goodness, but on the goodness of God. We don’t do good things to get God’s approval, but we do good things because we’ve already experienced His approval.
The Fruit of the Spirit aren’t just habits for us to engage in, but qualities of God’s character to bless us…for us to soak in first, and that then to ooze out of us, like a sponge soaking up water and then being wrung out.
Goodness isn’t just an inward quality. As Heather says,
“Goodness love in action – strategically pushing back the darkness of the world to allow the light of the goodness of God to shine in.”
