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"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness..."
~Galatians 5:22
In our ongoing series on the fruits of the Spirit, we come this week to the fruit of goodness. As with each of the other fruits, we need to know God's definition of what this fruit is and what He means by it. Because, as you may have noticed, we live in a time when everyone has an opinion on what is "good" - and how they are defining it may not actually be what God defines as good!
We see this phenomenon described in Isaiah 5:20 - "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"
Similarly, Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."
It is no small thing when we become mistaken on what is and is not truly good. It can even become a life and death issue.
So how are we to know what is good and what isn't?
Well, for one thing, the fruits of the Spirit are cultivated in us as we walk by the Spirit. So if we are walking in close relationship with Him, we can rest assured that He will cultivate in us true goodness.
What does walking by the Spirit look like?
It looks like spending time in the Word and in prayer. The more we speak to Him and hear from Him, the better able we will be to discern His voice and to be able to separate out truth from error.
In addition to these spiritual practices that are of foremost importance, one final thing I want to say about how we are able to discern what is truly good is this: "Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." (Proverbs 11:14) The book of Proverbs also tells us that friendships are to be as iron that sharpens iron. It is so important to have a community of wise, godly friends who are daily walking with the Lord, in step with the Spirit, and can therefore help us to discern good from evil, as well.
If we follow these practices, we will be able to discern what is truly good even while living in a time and culture as confusing as ours is.
Reflection Questions:
1) What stood out to you about today's study?
2) Has there been a time in your life when the Lord taught you that something you thought was good actually wasn't?
3) How can you be a wise counselor for your friends?
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