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The royal law of love declares –
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scriptures, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ you are doing well. [James 2:8]
God’s empowering –
It is not possible in your own strength. But it becomes possible when you have experienced the love of God. It is then the love that you have received from Him and experienced that you express towards others – the lovable and the seemingly unlovable.
God’s love in you –
And hope does not put us to shame for the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. [Romans 5:5] Having experienced this love you are then able to love God, love others and love yourself. The Spirit’s character in and through you brings about a transformation within from glory to glory and it is expressed in you as the fruit of the Spirit. It is a glorious change in your character that leads to a change in your conduct. The fruit of the Spirit is primarily love. All the nine fruit find their source in the love that God has lavished upon you. They can be broken up as –
Love, joy and peace that is primarily Godward
Patience, kindness and goodness that is expressed toward others
Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, primarily toward your own self
The basic foundation is love – God’s love that is in you through the Holy Spirit.
Goodness –
It is spiritual excellence, having a good character. It expresses itself in your inter personal relationships as generosity and benevolence toward others – love in action. It is a change that comes within you that is manifested outside, the goodness in your character that results in good conduct, actions that are good.
God begins – He does what is good within you –
Paul says something fundamental and revolutionary about the fallen man prior to his salvation – ‘ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh’. [Romans 7:18]. He is then controlled by his sinful nature, unable to show good toward others, and even when he does good it is never for the right reasons. The charitable acts that he does are often his self effort to gain salvation. But we enter heaven because Jesus has done something good. And salvation is God doing something good in you. And having done this act of grace in you, He now says to you – ‘show goodness to others’.
It is what the apostle Paul says in the book of Philemon –
And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. [Philippians 1:6]
Put simply it is –
When you are saved, all that is good in Christ is in you because of your identification with Him. Every good and perfect gift is from above. Everything good is in God, and He is in you. The source of all goodness is dwelling within you. Since goodness is in you through Christ, you are capable of being good, and doing what is good to others. It is Jesus on the inside of you working on the outside. A psychologist tries to bring about a behavioural change, a change in your conduct. But it may not be a lasting change, and it may vary according to your environment. What you are in church may not always be what you are in your work place or in your home. But when God changes you, it is in your spirit, and your very character changes to see you being good everywhere. Your very nature will become and remain good, for you have a good God.
God who is the good Shepherd –
He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.
And why does He do it ?
The answer is very simple – He is a good Shepherd. He is not a hireling who will run away at the sign of any threat, leaving his sheep unprotected. In your life, when you are facing a problem, He will stand with you, protect you and deliver you to bring you out to prosperity. David was a good shepherd who went after a lion in order to save a sheep of his flock that it had taken. And when it retaliated he did not give up, but attacked the lion to slay it. He did not weigh the pros and cons of rescuing a single sheep that could already be in a bad shape having been in the hand of a lion. The devil, the roaring lion, had you in his grip, controlled by sin and death. But Jesus the Good Shepherd came to save you. When the devil would not let go, He crushed his head on the Cross of Calvary to set you free. He did it for each and every one of us.
The Lord spoke the parable of the good Samaritan. The qualifying word is ‘good’, for he did not leave the wounded man to die but ministered to him. There are plenty of people in the world around you, who are wounded on the inside, broken emotionally. You demonstrate goodness to them when you minister to them with life giving words. It is an expression of your love toward God and other people.
1. The goodness of Cornelius –Demonstrated in benevolent generosity:
Cornelius, was an upright and God fearing man… [Acts 10:22] Some versions of the Bible call him a ‘good’ man. It needs to be the testimony of others regarding you too. You may not be a ‘rich’ man but it is more important to be a ‘good’ man. He was also a prayerful man. Rest assured always that when you are praying for something or someone, God will be working on the other side though you may not be aware of it at all. The answer to your prayer will come. Even as Cornelius prayed, God was speaking to Peter.
Saints and sinners –
The blessing of God when it came to Abraham [Genesis 12] was that all nations of the earth would be blessed through him. But as the years went on, the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, received the blessing of God but forgot it’s purpose and considered others to be unholy sinners, leading to a racially divided mind in them. Therefore God gave instructions to Peter that was precise and just sufficient, for he was being sent to the house of Cornelius, a gentile. The Jews then considered them to be not worthy to receive the gift of salvation.
The goodness of generosity –
Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. [Acts 10:24] Cornelius demonstrated goodness by inviting others to his home to share in the blessing, the gift of salvation. It is the greatest gift you can give to a person. It involves being hospitable, making room in your heart and in your life for others. Your house can be a ‘house of prayer’. The first gentile church was birthed in the house of Cornelius as the Holy Spirit fell on all those assembled there even as Peter was praying.
Goodness: Creating the opportunity –
Cornelius displayed goodness by creating an opportunity in his home for others to be blessed. He was ‘other centred’. This can be your attitude too. God has placed you in a position of influence, so that you will lift people up, not look down on them. Salvation is a revelation from God, but you can create the opportunity for others to receive it even as Cornelius did.
2. Barnabas : the goodness of encouragement –
…for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. [Acts 11:22-24]
Why was Barnabas a ‘good’ man ?
He was filled with the Spirit
He was filled with faith
He brought many to Christ
What a wonderful testimony of the goodness of a man whose name meant ‘son of encouragement’. You and I are called to be ‘sons of encouragement’, ‘dealers of hope’ to a world filled with discouragement and despair. Be an encourager. If you want to do good to others you have to encourage them. And there is no place to begin like home – so encourage your spouse, and your children.
The goodness of reaching out to others –
Barnabas was always reaching out to people, even those whom everybody stayed away from. He demonstrated his goodness by reaching out to Paul when the other apostles were wary of him and stayed away, for they doubted the genuineness of his transformation. And much later in their missionary journeys , when at one point Paul was reluctant to have Mark accompany them, Barnabas stood up for him, reached out to him when he was in danger of feeling rejected. Reach out to those who are feeling rejected in their lives. They may be in a good family, but still feel rejected. Be filled with God’s goodness and demonstrate it to others, not in your own strength, but in the power of the Spirit. Thank the Lord for His goodness to you and share it. Amen.
