The next two fruit of the Spirit are somewhat related in nature. Kindness and Goodness. The Holy Spirit is working in us and through us to grow these fruit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
All nine of these fruit are attributes of God that He wants us to experience in our own lives and actions. This is the reason He has given us the Holy Spirit to grow these within us. When you think of kindness, what comes to mind? Is kindness a way to describe how you should treat others? We should be kind to one another. The dictionary meaning is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Is this kindness? Is it just being nice to someone or giving them what they want? I know someone that is good at customer service but admits that sometimes she is being fake in her kindness. I see that approach as being nice to someone else. Kindness might include tough love. It is caring about what is best for the person.
We benefit from being kind as well as the person we are kind to. Proverbs 11:17 tells us that a man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself. Think about this. Kindness not only makes others happy. It uplifts our spirit too.
If that is kindness, what is goodness? In movies, we have battles of good versus evil. Is good the opposite of evil? How does it compare to kindness? Kindness is passive in how it flows between people. Goodness is more aggressive. It is the act of doing good, not just a feeling that is passed on. Goodness is the action that comes from having the Holy Spirit within you. These actions are for the benefit of others. Goodness comes from God. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” In letting the Holy Spirit control us, we are blessed with the fruit of goodness.
Goodness is doing what is right, even when it is not easy. Goodness is a choice and an action. To show goodness, you need to decide to be good and do the right thing on purpose. How is God good? In his commentary on Psalm 46, Charles Spurgeon wrote that God is good — not because he causes things that seem or feel “good” to happen in our lives, but because during the storm, God comes closer to us than the storm could ever be.
We can say, no matter how bad the storm is, how much pain we experience, or how different the outcome is from what we have prayed for, that God is good. In the hardest moments of life, God comes close to us, and He doesn’t change, falter, quit, leave, or let go.
“God is good all the time. All the time God is good.”
Let the Holy Spirit work inside you so you can be kind and good “all the time”.
