(finished writing this Oct 1, 2010)
Continuing my study of the fruits of the Spirit...
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness...”
I read a shampoo bottle the other day that reveals the condition of our society. The shampoo was called “Drama Clean.” Their motto: “I’m so good; I’ll put clean thoughts into your head.”
Usually marketing schemes target felt needs. How many people out there are looking to get rid of the drama in their life, looking for something good, and hoping to have clean thoughts in their mind? Apparently there are plenty of people out there, and they must be buying enough shampoo; it wasn’t on the clearance shelf!
Probably not many people actually believe you can get goodness from a shampoo. But when you stop to think about it, where in the world can you find true goodness?
According to Galatians 5:22,23 goodness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Goodness is something the Holy Spirit produces. And that makes sense that only a part of the Trinity could produce goodness when you consider Mark 10:18, “There is none good but God.”
What does God’s goodness look like? I found three (and there are many more) mentions of “goodness” in the Bible that help me comprehend what goodness is.
1.) In Genesis 1, after each day of creation, God pronounced that what He created was “good.”
Even though sin has upset the original Eden, we still enjoy heirlooms of how “good” things used to be:
- examining the intricacy, coloring, and unique shape of any flower
- rubbing a cat’s silky belly with your bare feet
- laying on your back in a sunny, breeze-tossed field of prairie grass
- biting into a perfectly ripe Colorado peach, juice dripping off your chin
- watching the hilarious antics of monkeys or squirrels
- trudging up foot after foot of mountain scenery and gazing down at the breathtaking panorama below
- wading in warm saltwater with sand oozing between your toes and tides washing the seaweeds back and forth around your ankles
- living in a lingering, golden-pink sunset
- picking loads of delicious, shiny berries
- enjoying the sharp scent and captivating flames of a fall campfire
- tracing the patterns of frost on the window glass
- seeing your breath become “clouds” on a damp, frigid morning
- hearing the squeak under your boots as you walk through drifts of new-fallen snow
- gazing up into a black, winter sky glittering with trillions of stars
- listening to a symphony of frogs or crickets “tune up” for the evening
- smelling the green freshness of spring as rain subsides and a rainbow softly appears
- studying the eyes of your dog as they beg for one more treat
- feeling the wind play in your hair...
It’s all good! If you want to know what goodness is, just look at the things God has made. I am sure you have felt the thrill in your heart and experienced the sense that these things are good. They are the goodness of God revealed. The goodness of God in a touch-able, experience-able, sensational version.
What is goodness? It is the beauty and rightness and awesomeness of nature - the mysterious yet pleasurable sense of a Creator who had you in mind.
2.) At the end of Genesis 1 we read that God pronounced one part of His creation “very good” - the humans He made in His image.
Oh that we were still “very good”! We certainly cannot say we “are good and do good” like David said of God (Psalm 119:68). But the goodness of our Edenic past has not all been erased. The complexity of the human body, the unfathomable ability to procreate, the constant healing process - this is still “very good”!
God specifically said that “It is not good that man should be alone.” The idea of family, belonging, togetherness, intimacy, and accountability are “very good” things.
Some people tell me how fortunate I am to still be single. I can’t help but notice that all the people who talk like this are married, were married, or technically should have been married. I have never had a single person, older than me, tell me how fortunate I am! Rather, they try to be encouraging and point out the blessings that come despite the fact that we are single, not because we are single. That is because it is NOT good for us to be alone. Thankfully I still have friends and family!...
I met a woman this year who is 85 and alone. She lost her husband 10 years ago, was never able to have children, has a nephew who came around this month only to make sure her estate and will was in order (for him), her last girlfriend died two years ago, her church picks her up like a taxi once a week for groceries or church if she’s feeling up to it, and she is coming down with Alzheimer’s... and when I went over to tell the neighbor lady about the situation right next door to her she said: “Yeah, I know, I look every morning to make sure her shade goes up. If it doesn’t, then I’ll know she’s dead and will call the ambulance.” It is NOT good for us to be alone!
Surely we have all experienced how “very good” it is to have family and friends:
- the inside joke that is only understood by someone who has experienced life with you
- being able to eat breakfast together in your pajamas, because you are family
- the “good old days” talk, reminiscing about adventures together
- someone who will notice when you lose weight, because they care
- the reason to call home when you are going to be late
- someone who’ll tell you when there is a dryer sheet stuck to the back of your pants, cowlick sticking up on the back of your head, or something green in your teeth
- piling together into one car, singing and laughing and talking until you get there
- the comforting hug, knowing look, touch on the shoulder, listening ear
- the sense that you are supposed to be there (belonging rather than intruding)
- having a right to expectations of one another (“that’s what friends are for”)
- the interesting fun of getting to know another unique mind
- the pain of loss when it has been transformed into anticipation of reuniting
What is goodness? It is the warm belonging, the helpful accountability, the safe vulnerability, and the fun interaction with friends and family, which God knew would be needed by humans created in His own relational image.
3.) Perhaps the most individualized expression of God’s goodness is found in God’s providences for our personal day to day lives.
As Joseph said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, “...as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Genesis 50:20 It was God’s providence that turned the hate of Joseph’s brothers into the very means of keeping them, plus a whole nation, alive during a time of severe famine.
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Ps 84:11
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights...” James 1:17
Trust “in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” I Timothy 6:17
What God provides for us is good! He is the best gift giver there ever could be because He knows us intimately. A list of providences and gifts God has given to me will not mean as much to you as it does to me. But perhaps it will spark your memory to think about His providences in your life:
- When I was 6 years old my folks got me a $50 teddy bear for Christmas. Paddington may have seemed totally extravagant and ridiculous (My parents even wondered what they were thinking, but he was so cute they felt compelled!). It’s a good thing he was quality stuff! He has provided a sense of “home” and security for me for 27 years now. And as silly as it may seem to you, I know God provided that stuffed bear.
- Going to church school for first and second grade meant that I would have to stay with Grandpa Schorsch every day after school, until Dad got off work. Those hours with Grandpa formed my life’s interests - gardening, birdwatching, reading, cooking, and art. I am so thankful God provided that time to be with Grandpa, who died six years later.
- One time I visited a family that lived way out in the hill country of Iowa and thought to myself, “It would be so nice to live out here in this quiet, beautiful countryside!” Five years later we moved... to a place just four miles down the road from there! And no one knew about my heart’s desire to live in that area, except God.
- I had accepted a job in Ukraine as an English language teacher/missionary. I arrived only to discover that the school was not really connected to the church and was run by someone else trying to make money on the name! My return plane ticket was for nine months later... But the translator was from my church and offered for me to stay with his family and help with their mission work. I learned so much from that dear family, and can see how my time there changed the direction of my life.
- “The Little Red Chariot” (aka 1996 Subaru Impreza) that I got in 2005 for $3,800 with 91,000 miles on it, has carried me 134,000 miles in the last 5 years. Until recently, it only had one problem when the water pump went out. Otherwise it was the most hassle free transport I’ve ever heard of. And it is even red : } my favorite color.
- Traveling around so much, I can’t have a cat or dog... But God has provided a pet for me every summer! Each spring some little spider moves into the space behind the driver’s side mirror of my car. I enjoy watching the little thing grow into a nice fat spider. Whenever the car is stopped it will climb out and build a web between the mirror and the door. And when I start the car, it will gather up some of the threads and crawl back inside the mirror. Sometimes I forget and take off before it gets to safety. The poor thing hangs on to the web for dear life until I notice and pull over! Then it scrambles back to its shelter.
- My family, of course, is the biggest providence of my life. I would not be the same person without each of them. They are a gift that I thank God for every day. And everywhere I go, God provides people with just the things I need: people for companionship, people to teach, people to encourage, people that I can observe and learn “what not to do,” people I can love and serve, and people that I instantly bond with in a way I don’t understand completely but really enjoy. The way I meet these people is so crazy sometimes that I know they are a providence from God!
What is goodness? It is the providences, or gifts, from God that have shaped our life and carried us through. It is having Someone provide for you what you never could provide for yourself.
How does the fruit of the Spirit, goodness, manifest itself in your life? God wants to make us fruitful in goodness - as beautiful, right, and awesome as nature; as helpful, fun, safe, and close as friends and family; as useful and fulfilling to others as God’s providences are to us.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.” Psalm 34:8
