Mike Criswell
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, GOODNESS, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law," Galatians 5:22-23.
What else does the abiding Spirit of God produce in us? Last time, we looked at the word “gentleness,” and we learned that it has to do with our relationship with others. But while “gentleness” may, at first glance, seem to be passive, the next word Paul uses is different. In the Greek, the word Paul uses is “goodness” (Greek: agathosune), and it has to do with being radically active in seeking out and doing good.
I’m reminded of some advice an old man gave me when I became a new parent. He said, “Son, rather than just seeing your child doing wrong, try to catch your child doing right.” That was helpful advice. As a parent, we need to actively seek out the good in our children. Likewise, we need to not only see the good we can do but zealously seek out ways to be good. In other words, we need to be on fire in doing good.
Many times, we have good intentions — fair enough. That is indeed admirable. However, the type of “goodness” that we are to have requires an “on fire” disposition that is not only stoked by the emotions but constantly fed and driven by the will.
Remember, it was Paul who said, “Don’t be weary in well doing,” Galatians 6:9-10.
Let me illustrate. Just recently, my son purchased a new children’s play set for my 18-month-old grandson. I was pumped to help my son put the thing together. So, on a Saturday morning, we got our tools and started, thinking we’d have the thing slapped together in just a few hours. Excitedly, we set about reading diagrams and putting the pieces together. It was great fun . . . well, for the first two hours. But then the wind picked up, it got cold, and we got tired. Not only that but as we were trying to beat the clock, we discovered the bags of screws from the factory were all jumbled. I became weary and then impatient. Had I known it would be so hard, I’d have gladly paid money to hire someone to put the thing together.
Here’s the point. While it was a good thing to tackle such a “fun project,” I lost the drive, zeal, and energy it required! Oh sure, I wanted to see my grandson slide down the slide and play in his new fort, but in the end, I’d have rather paid someone else to do the job!
For Christians, the lesson is the same. Many of us genuinely want to do good. We want to feed the poor, help the homeless, and touch the hurting . . . but at the end of the day, we just don’t have the drive! Sometimes, we opt for just paying someone to be “good” for us. In so doing, we rob ourselves of true biblical joy and may even rob God of the glory He deserves!
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