FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT:     GOODNESS     =     KINDNESS + GENEROSITY + GENTLENESS  

Reflection offered today (13 June 2012) at our Wednesday Koinonia group

GOODNESS   = competence (good at maths); reliability (good brakes); strength (good eyesight);  kindness  (good of you to come); moral excellence (good deed or good works); behavior (good child); enjoyment (a good party); thoroughness (gave it a good wash); great numbers (a good many people); health (milk is good for you); soundness (a good reason); worthiness (good old George); attractiveness (a good figure/physique); moral rightness (did it for your own good); matches/exceeds expectations (good sermon) etc. = Desirable, commendable, reliable, welcome, enjoyable, kind, noble, virtuous, admirable ¢â‚¬ ¦

GAL 5: 22. KINDNESS   (chrestotes   — gentle love, passive goodness: younger prodigal; Jesus with marginalized  ¢â‚¬“ women, sinners etc.) GENEROSITY/GOODNESS (agathosune — tough love, rebuke, discipline. Joseph:  ¢â‚¬Ëœyou meant it for evil, God meant it for good ¢â‚¬â„¢ Gen 50:20; older prodigal. Jesus cleansing temple, admonishing one another Ro 15:14).   GAL 5:23. GENTLENESS   (praotes  ¢â‚¬“ submission to God ¢â‚¬â„¢s will, teachable, humble  ¢â‚¬“ eg. a submissive/trained animal). + kalos  ¢â‚¬“ aesthetic goodness.

GOD is GOOD.  ¢â‚¬ËœOh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Ps 107:1).   Creation is  ¢â‚¬Ëœgood ¢â‚¬â„¢; choose  ¢â‚¬Ëœlife/goodness ¢â‚¬â„¢ Dt 30:15   (LXX);  ¢â‚¬Ëœgoodness and mercy ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Ps 23).   Ro 11:22: goodness and severity of God (KJV). ( ¢â‚¬ËœHe’s not safe, but he’s good ¢â‚¬â„¢ C.S. Lewis)    ¢â‚¬ËœSeek good, and not evil, that you may live   (ie. justice) (Amos 5:6). One who does good is  ¢â‚¬Ëœof God ¢â‚¬â„¢ (3 Jn 11).

JESUS:  ¢â‚¬ËœGood Master, what must I do to win eternal life? ¢â‚¬â„¢    ¢â‚¬ËœWhy do you call me good?   No-one is good except God alone. ¢â‚¬â„¢   ¢â‚¬ËœYou know the commandments.   Go and sell all your goods and follow me. ¢â‚¬â„¢

BARNABAS:  ¢â‚¬Ëœa good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Ac 11:24). PAUL: Ro 7:18-21:  ¢â‚¬ËœNothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. ¢â‚¬â„¢

HOW TO BE GOOD?           1. People become like the god they worship.           2.  ¢â‚¬ËœWhen you want perfect love, look at Jesus. When you want joy & peace, look at Jesus. And the same is true of goodness. ¢â‚¬â„¢ (He was tempted too: how?)           3. Doing the right thing for the right reason.             4. We practise God ¢â‚¬â„¢s goodness by being forgiving Mt 6:14-15             5. Disciplines: eg. by being morally pure.           6. Do good/be generous in secret.           7. The  ¢â‚¬Ëœgreat judgment ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ good works.       

 ¢â‚¬Å“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.  If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.  For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. ¢â‚¬     ¢â‚¬â€¢  Kent M. Keith.    ¢â‚¬ËœA good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special. ¢â‚¬â„¢  (Nelson Mandela)  ¢â‚¬ËœDo your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. ¢â‚¬â„¢  (Desmond Tutu)

Discuss:      *  ‘She went around “doing good”: you could tell the people she “did good” to by their hunted look!’ (C S Lewis);   ‘If you see someone coming towards you with the obvious intent of doing you good, run for your life’ (Thoreau) : so how do we deal with our motives for doing good?               

*  What’s essentially wrong with ‘Do-goodism’? Why is  ¢â‚¬Ëœgiving advice ¢â‚¬â„¢ a  ¢â‚¬Ëœno no ¢â‚¬â„¢ in counselling? How do people who do good from the best motives get to be like that? Is altruism possible in this world? Was Jesus selfish when he left the crowds in ignorance and pain to go to the desert to be alone (Luke 5:15,16)?               

*‘The worst evils in the world are not done by evil people, but by good people who do not know they’re not doing good’ (Reinhold Niebuhr)               

*   ¢â‚¬â„¢God please make the bad people good and the good people nice ¢â‚¬â„¢. (Goodness = niceness???)            

*  Tom Keyte:  ¢â‚¬ËœThe Pharisees were good people, in the worst sense of the word ¢â‚¬â„¢.

*   ¢â‚¬â„¢Children show me in their playful smiles the divine in everyone. This simple goodness shines straight from their hearts and only asks to be lived ¢â‚¬â„¢.   Michael Jackson      

Rowland Croucher 13/6/2012