“…you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” Romans 15:14
According to the Spirit Filled Life Bible, the Greek word for goodness is agathosume, meaning “an intrinsic goodness producing a generosity and a Godlike state or being. It is a rare word that combines being good with doing good.” Goodness is a result of being surrendered to God and submerged in the power and love of the Holy Spirit. To be good or do good means that someone is upright and doing the upright or just thing. Goodness also means to do something that is beneficial to someone else from a generous or unselfish heart, a heart that has undergone change and is in an ongoing process of being transformed by the Spirit of God. Doing a good or upright thing is about humility, not pride. It’s about serving, not being served. It’s about making Jesus famous, not making a name for ourselves. If the heart is proud or selfish, then a good act is based on works and not on grace. True goodness comes from a heart that receives and extends the genuine grace of God.
In Christ we have been made upright. He gave us a position of right-standing with God. Jesus has also provided a way for the Christian to receive a new heart, a spirit that is recreated in the image of God. From our new position and condition, we make choices whether to do the right thing or not, to do a benevolent thing or not. If the Spirit of God is leading you and if you have the means to act, then obey His prompting and act. If the provision is not there, pray and ask God to make the provision.
It is important to recognize that being good and being God are not the same thing. We are not the source to fill everyone’s needs; God is. God may choose to use us to help someone, or God may choose to use someone else. God might even choose to work a supernatural miracle to meet a need. When doing good things, we must look to the Lord and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have to know who God is and to learn to accept who we are. True goodness will cause you to teach people to look to God as their answer, not to you. When deciding which good things we will do, we must be careful not to allow the mentality of condemnation to rule our hearts. Satan is an expert at using guilt, shame, and fear to manipulate the Christian into doing something that God never asked them to do. Remember, just because something is a goodwill act doesn’t mean that it is God’s will for you to act. When we are in the Spirit, we are following the leading of the Spirit and leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us be good and do good.
Application: Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to do something that will bless another person today.