Be Good, Do Good

Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

I have just emerged from a rabbit hole after what I thought would be a quick search on Greek words translated into our English word “good” in the New Testament. It’s rather intriguing…and also rather overwhelming. I invite you to a personal study if it interests you; however, I know my limitations.

I am no Greek scholar. So, as we look at another fruit of the Spirit – goodness - I think I’ll just stick to English.

We throw the word “goodness” around all the time. As a parent, it’s a part of my daily lexicon.

As my son hops out of my car to head into school, I half-holler as the door is shutting, “Have a great day. I love you. Be good!”

My husband brought home a chocolate cake-pie hybrid a coworker made, and as I devoured it (I don’t play when it comes to chocolate cake), I thought, “Man, this is GOOD.”

I probably say a form of “good job” or “good work” 50 times a day to my students, about both their effort and final products.

“Good” to my son means something is passable. “Hey, how is it?” I ask, and he responds, “Good,” which means it’s not the best thing on the planet, but it will work.

I think, though, we can agree that although my chocolate pie-cake was pretty delicious, none of these ordinary uses of “good” are in the same category as the goodness the Holy Spirit gives.

The goodness the Holy Spirit gives is goodness from God. it is divine goodness. I think like the other fruit of the Spirit, it requires action.

Erica wrote about our actions reflecting joy when we are filled with joy from the Spirit. In “Lovin’ Christmas,” I wrote about how acts of kindness become a conduit for God’s love to others. My girl Lexi shared how actions reveal the level of self-control we have.

The fruit of the Spirit seem to all share a connection. In each one, there is a heart quality to each that, when cultivated, manifests in some form of action or behavior. That’s kind of the point of the whole “fruit” metaphor, right? When you plant a seed in good soil and nurture it so it grows up healthy, it produces a big, juicy apple (or whatever fruit you love) - the evidence of a good plant and good relationship with the grower.

That makes sense. Just as we discussed in our first post in this series, the fruit of the Spirit isn’t a list of behaviors through which we earn a place in some heavenly meritocracy. They are manifestations of God in us, of our hearts being changed, of us being made new and transforming into God’s image.

So it goes with goodness.

After a young ruler calls Jesus “good teacher” and then asks him how he can get eternal life, Jesus asks, “Why do you call me good?” and then explains, “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19). Jesus, of course, is God. There’s an underlying question of whether the man accepts Jesus as God, but what I want to focus on is the quality of being good.

This kind of goodness is the quality of inherent uprightness or excellence. Only God is truly and entirely good. There is no flaw in God. There is no blemish or stain. There is no dark corner of corruption. He is GOOD. It is His nature. It’s what He is. Period.

Whatever goodness we can claim in ourselves is a gift, given through the miracle of the cross and our redemption.

As we learn more of God, cultivate our relationship with Him, and get better at obedience, His goodness becomes more evident in us and manifests in our doing good works in the world. How do we know if we are growing more “goodness”? (I really wanted to write “growing gooder,” but I refrained. You’re welcome). Simple. Goodness in us shows itself through good works. If we are growing goodness, we should see the fruit of that goodness in our actions.

To put it simply: Spiritual goodness leads to doing good. We make the right decisions. We do the right thing.

Let me give you an example of how we can grow and get better at being and doing “good.”

Several years ago, I was behind a woman checking out at the grocery store. I zoned out for a while until I realized things were taking longer than normal. It became clear the woman in front of me was having trouble paying for her groceries. She was selecting a few items at a time and having the cashier remove them from her bill to see if it was low enough for her to afford. Then, she would pick a few more items to put back, check the bill again, and then pick a couple more.

My heart hurt for her. I know the Holy Spirit was pushing me to help this woman. I could have paid for her groceries so she didn’t have to put anything back. I had enough in the bank that it wouldn’t have been a hardship to help her.

But I didn’t.

I wanted to, but I was paralyzed by unknowns. How much money were we talking about? What if I offered to help and the cost was way more than I was comfortable with? What if I offended or embarrassed her? What would I even say?

As I stood there processing all the what-ifs, she got the price down to affordable for her, paid for what she could, and left.

Now, I didn’t commit a crime. There was nothing socially that said I was responsible to help the woman; there were, in fact, several people behind me. Some might even defend my actions with declarations of not enabling the poor.

But I knew, I KNEW, I was supposed to do good, and I didn’t.

I didn’t show that woman God’s love that day, and to this day, I regret it.

James says, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (4:17).

I didn’t do the good I ought to have done that day. I went home, wept, and repented because I had intentionally ignored what God was very clearly asking me to do.

But God didn’t leave me there in my dejection and grief. He is good, remember?

That was several years ago. I was much newer in my faith. I was learning about God, and He would use that experience in the grocery store as an ongoing reminder to “do good” for the rest of my life.

In fact, He brought that very story to my mind just this week.

A couple of days ago, I stopped to get gas on my way to pick up my son from school. I wasn’t late, but I didn't have a ton of time either. As I got out of my car, I noticed an old, beat-up pick-up truck sitting at the next pump. There was a young woman in the car yelling at her phone, clearly upset, as a young child climbed on the seats.

Before I could do or say anything, she hopped out and ran into the store, so I went ahead and pumped my gas.

By the time my gas finished, she was back. She pumped her gas for about two seconds and started putting the pump away. I looked over and saw the pump read $2.29, and I thought, “That can’t be right.” I took a few steps forward to see better, and sure enough, she’d put just over two dollars of gas in her truck. That wasn’t going to get her very far.

It was at that moment I felt that familiar nudge from the Holy Spirit. There was good here for me to do.

This time, I did it. I walked over to the woman and asked if I could fill up her truck with gas. She started crying and thanking me. It turned out she was trying to get to her son, who was having an emergency. I tried to say something about God loving her, but I’m sure it came out all awkward and jumbled. Still, I was able to leave knowing I did the good God wanted me to do.

I don’t share this for pats on the back. I share this so you can see how God’s spirit can change a person, how He has changed me. I’m still learning, but every day I get a little bit better at saying “yes” to God, and He continues to keep His promise to cultivate and grow the fruit of the Spirit in me.

In talking about goodness, I’m reminded of a final scene in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a play about the Salem Witch Trials, if you aren’t familiar.

The protagonist, John Proctor, has decided to deny claims he is a witch, despite the fact doing so means his death. He’s spent the play dealing in lies, and just one more would assure his life. All he has to do is sign a paper saying he is a witch and he’s sorry (a lie - he was never a witch). However, his confession would condemn several other good friends by association (they are also innocent of witchcraft and face death from the wrongful accusation).

After Proctor rips up the confession and refuses to sign his name to lies, Reverend Hale tries to get Proctor’s wife Elizabeth to convince him to sign the lie (yes, he knows it’s a lie) to save his life.

Her response has always stayed with me. As Proctor is carted off to be hanged for a crime he is innocent of, she replies, “He has his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.”

Proctor’s goodness is a result of a change of his heart in the play. He asks forgiveness of his wife and chooses to do what is right (after some really wrong choices earlier) though it means his death.

He has goodness, and that leads him to do good. It’s a very hard act of goodness, but he still does it.

We will encounter opportunities for goodness often.

We can choose to ignore them and walk away. We can choose to do wrong.

I would imagine, though, that in each situation, the Holy Spirit is leaning out the door of our hearts, half-hollering, “I love you. Be good.”

Hopefully, we listen. Hopefully, our actions align with our hearts. Hopefully, we do good.