Another fruit of the Spirit. Good, or goodness, have become sort of vanilla words…
“How are you?”
“Good”
“How was your day?”
“Good”
The truth is that good, and goodness, are rich theological words.
- God is good.
“The Lord is good and his love endures forever.” Ps. 100:5
He is morally perfect and gloriously generous. It is not that the writers of Scripture have rated God on a scale and assessed him as good; God is not rated as good, but rather goodness is rated in measurement against God.
- God’s works are good.
From the very beginning of time, at creation’s birth God surveyed and “God saw that it was good”… “God saw all that he had made and it was very good”. His works are the objects of his approval.
- The gifts of God are good.
All that originates in him, that is passed on by him, that is provided by him is good, and for the good of his people. The verse that you are thinking of is James 1:17 where he affirms that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father…”
- The commands of the Lord are good.
His Word marks out the path of blessing; his “good and pleasing and perfect will” Rom. 12:2
God does not give directions to exercise his authority, to bully his subjects, to keep people busy or to shame them into guilt. His will is “good, and pleasing and perfect”.
Consequently… Obedience to God’s command is good.
1 Tim. 2:3 “…this is good and pleases God our Saviour.”
Our obedience is good when it is:
- In step with God’s revealed will –
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16-17
- From a right motive of love and gratitude.
- With the right aim – to bring glory to God
However we are still skirting the question of ‘what does it look like – this goodness?’
I believe the Bible leads us to the answer: goodness is fulfilling the purpose for which we are created; being what God meant you to be.
The first clue is in Genesis 1 when God ‘saw that it was good’: it was what he meant it to be, it fulfilled the purpose for which it was created.
“May the Lord rejoice in his works!”
A further clue is in Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
His workmanship – his poiema (from which we get poetry).
If God is the poet, we are his poetry. Nobody else can be you, so be the best you, the you God meant you to be.
That will be good!