Are You A "Goodness Girl"?
Good Morning Girls! This cake is good. I got a good deal on this shirt. He's a good kid. Your hair looks good. It's a good movie. Goodness: The state or quality of being good. Yesterday when I was studying "goodness", the only thing I was coming up with was "good grief". I never realized what a generic catch all word good is. There is a whole column of definitions in Websters, but none of them really spoke to me as a "fruit of the Spirit" definition. Of course we all should "be good", but that seems too simple for the Lord to specifically list as a result of having the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. I looked up 15 versus with the word good or goodness in them and still....nothing. I was playing around on www.biblegateway.com when I came across this definition of goodness. I want you to read it slowly and let it sink in. Goodness in a man is not a mere passive quality, but the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good. Read it again. According to this definition, goodness is not some wimpy "do what's right" quality. It is a conscious and chosen quality, one that requires consistent thought. The author uses these action verbs: deliberate, firm, persistent, choosing, following. Revelation! It truly is only with the Holy Spirit dwelling within us that we are able to do all of these things. When the Spirit lives within us, we get that "kicked in the gut" feeling when we act contrary to the Word, thus creating in us a "deliberate preference of right to wrong". When the Spirit lives within us, we have the strength to be "firm and have persistent resistance" of the worldly trash we are faced with daily. With the help of the Spirit we are able to "choose and follow" the Word. So, as your mother used to say.............Be a "Good Girl" now. Better yet, be a Goodness Girl!
Romans 14:17 for the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Love you Girls-
Jen
Romans 14:17 for the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Love you Girls-
Jen
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