What does “goodness” mean? A good deed is one, which, on the outside, conforms to the demands of the law but, on the inside, is motivated by a desire to please God.
Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada with a very good word for you today.
In fact, that word “good” is a – how can I put it – a good word, and we use it all the time to describe all sorts of people, don’t you? If my husband is impressed with someone, he’s a big fan of saying, “That guy’s got a good heart.” Or you hear folks comment, “What a good man he is,” or “She is a good soul,” but is she? I mean, just how good are our hearts and souls? You have to really think about that when you come across a verse like Romans 3:12 where it says, “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Well, that puts a different spin on the word “good.”
So what is it, this thing called goodness? I mean, what is a good heart, a good deed? Good question. Even Jesus sought to clear up people’s misconceptions when a man once greeted him as “Good Rabbi” and the Lord stopped him short and called into question the man’s definition of goodness. So how do we define it? Well, first, goodness is a Christian thing; it is a fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22 it says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. A good deed can only be truly good as it is inspired and motivated by the Spirit of Christ; it has to be a fruit of the Spirit.
A good deed is one, which, on the outside, conforms to the demands of the law but, on the inside, is motivated by a desire to please God. So this means that Christians are the ones who have a true capacity for goodness. As the Spirit of Christ fills each of us, we have the potential to be good and to do truly good deeds because our desire is to please God. Dr. R.C. Sproul, whom I love, points out that the fruit of goodness carries with it a new ability to appreciate excellence and beauty and truth. I mean, guided by God's Spirit, we know when an action or a deed is good, because we appreciate its true and lovely character – like: God saw what he created and said, “It is good.”
We sing a hymn in the car by ourselves and we do so to please God—that’s good. Or we encourage a slump-shouldered friend, pushing him toward God with our words and actions—that is good. Or we encounter an unbeliever and gently nudge him toward the Gospel, doing so with an eye on pleasing God—and that is good. We give of our time, give money at a missions conference, or give a hand at a church workday—and we do all of this because it is our ambition to be pleasing to him. Ephesians tells us to find out what is pleasing to the Lord and do it. And rest assured, friend, when it gets done, you’ll know that in God's eyes it is good—very good. Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit that nourishes our innermost being and conforms us to Christ, bringing forth excellence of character, integrity, truth, and an appreciation for beauty. That’s the person with a good heart; that is the one with a good soul.
You know, this is such an interesting topic, and I would love to hear your perspective. Can those who reject God really do good deeds? When they are kind to a neighbor, does that make them good? Or, as we’ve looked at today, can good deeds be best measured by what motivates us? I’d really like to have you weigh in on this, so visit my radio page today at joniradio.org. I'll be checking your posts the rest of the week to see what you’ve got to say. Again, that’s joniradio.org. And finally, whatever you do today, whatever you enjoy today, enjoy it, do it to please God. You can’t get any “gooder” than that.
© Joni and Friends