Last week in my post, Patience, I wrote about the parallels of motherhood and the Fruit of the Holy Spirit of Patience. In all we do as mothers, we should seek to grab hold of the life worthy of living for God through patient endurance.

Our race on earth, our steadfastness in faith in Jesus Christ, allows us to grow in His compassion, humility and strength so that through patient endurance we may bear the failings of the weak (aka our children, our husband, family, fellow believers and non-believers), work and serve them in love, and build them up in the Truth of God.

Our next Fruits, Kindness and Goodness, are also an extension of grace given to allow us to not only walk in these ways but allow others (even our enemies) to receive the compassion, kindness, gentleness and goodness of God through us.

Kindness of Heart Generates Good Actions

As we look at this week’s fruits, I find they’re inseparable in that one supports the other through action. I believe through the internal growth of God’s love, joy, peace and patience, a follower of Jesus Christ is more adept and equipped to grow and bear the fruits of kindness and goodness, which is more outwardly displayed.

They’re action-focused fruits. They’re actions which are fruitful to the fellow believer, non-believer and those who persecute us (our enemies), though sometimes their meaning is misconstrued by motive, which I’ll speak to in this post as well.

Let’s dive in and continue looking at Fruits of the Holy Spirit and how we, as deeply rooted believers in Christ, bear His fruit in life.

Recap: Fruits of the Spirit Study

Before we proceed, I feel it necessary to reflect on the scripture we’re studying as this could be the first post you’re reading from Transparency in Love.

Galatians 5:16-17 and 22-26 says, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are born again into a new spiritual body and are planted in the foundation of His Truth. God becomes the gardener, Jesus is the Vine to which we are connected to God, and the Holy Spirit is our aid to grow and understand God’s Word, and from our branch, we bear fruits. But a tree or a branch doesn’t bear fruit for itself- it grows and produces fruit so it can be of nourishment, fuel, hope, contentment, and comfort for others who eat from it (spiritually figuratively speaking, of course).

As a body of Christ, the big “c” Church, we are called to grow in the likeness of Christ and bring heaven to earth. We are able to do this by the grace given to us through Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit who develops in us the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The past several weeks we’ve looked at the fruits of the Spirit of Love, Joy, Peace and Patience– what they are (according to their original Greek text), what they look like (according to examples in the Bible), and what Scripture says about them, in regard to their purpose.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to look at those. Whether you’re a new believer in Christ, a seasoned follower of Christ, a believer who has fallen away and is unsure about the validity and power of Christ, or you’re a non-believer looking for something that is true because everything else is proving unsustainable- we can all benefit from a look of what God’s Word actually says.

The Twin Fruits

In the King James Version of our Galatians 5:22-23 scripture, the fruit “kindness” is identified as “gentleness” whereas the fruit of “gentleness” is identified as “meekness.” We’ll get to the Fruit of Meekness in the weeks to come, but for now, let’s define kindness, or gentleness, which we have a better definition of from the Greek text.

Kindness, or chrestotes in Greek, means moral goodness, integrity, benignity, kindness. It describes someone as having a morally, excellent character or demeanor; a gentleness, goodness or kindness about them.

Goodness, in this passage of scripture, is translated from the Greek word, agathosyne (ag-ath-o-soo’-nay), which means uprightness of heart and life, goodness, kindness. It is the action of being kind or practicing the inward expression of kindness through actions.

The Holy Fruit of Kindness, therefore, prepares the heart of a believer to rely on and fully trust the morality and excellent character of Jesus Christ so that, by God’s grace and mercy, we may be able to extend His Fruit of Goodness through our actions, to those He positions us to live life with.

Through Faith, We’re Prompted to do Good Works

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, NLT version reads,

“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

I love this passage as it indicates three very important Truths about the twin fruits of Kindness and Goodness:

1. “May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things…”

In the King James Version of this passage, the word used for the phrase “power to accomplish” from the New International Version is “fulfill.”

Fulfill is a Greek verb meaning to make full; to cause to abound, to supply liberally; to render full; to fill to the top-so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure; fill to the brim; to satisfy; to make complete in every situation; and to carry into effect, bring to realization.

It is only by God’s grace and power given to us that we are able to accomplish, fulfill, and to cause to abound, ANY good thing through faith.

Remember, Jesus warns us about trying to produce fruit apart from Him, in our own strength. The human flesh, apart from God, is evil. There is no goodness in us; that’s one of many reasons why we need Him and His Holy Spirit moving in us to perfect and grow our spirit to submit to Him. Without Him, like John 15:1-17 communicates, we cannot manufacture fruit [in this case, an act of goodness] that is everlasting and accepted by God unless we are “plugged in” to His Spirit.

2. Furthermore, this brings me to point two of this passage.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, the giver of forgiveness of sins, we have been adopted into sonship with Him and all other believers. We become one large body of believing people, aka the big “c” Church.

As a body of believers, we are called to “correct, rebuke and encourage- with great patience and careful instruction…” I’ve referenced this passage in 2 Timothy 4:2 many times in this blog, are you beginning to grasp the significance of it?

In order for believers of the big “c” Church to be met where they are and to be able to receive correction or rebuke or encouragement, we must be connected to His Spirit, following His instructions.

While I believe a follower of Jesus Christ is not called to correct and rebuke a non-believer the same way we are a believer, we can still encourage a non-believer and our enemy through the working of our faith. God can still reach those who are apart from Him.

Only then will our act of goodness from the Fruit of Kindness growing in us, prompted by faith, accomplish the task of honoring our Lord Jesus Christ.

“May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live…”

3. If our act of kindness is not prompted by faith (this is where I’m talking about motive) but instead by self-imposition or a lack of patience in hearing from the Lord what he actually wants you to do, it cannot reach the level of fulfillment or accomplishment that God intended.

It cannot accomplish or fulfill, or cause to abound, or satisfy or render full, the blessings the Lord had for you as His vessel or the one receiving the act of goodness through the Holy Fruits of Kindness and Goodness.

I cringe every time I see a TikTok video or Facebook video of someone filming their act of goodness or posting about their generosity.

While I can’t say with certainty all those videos or public posts are self-pursuing for public accolades or to gain “followers,” I can say with certainty that God’s Word tells us in Matthew 6:1-4, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.”

This passage in Matthew continues by saying, “be careful not to practice your righteousness (where do we get righteousness? From Christ alone; being connected to His Spirit) in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven…”

Praise be to God, though, He is the ultimate Judge. Only He can decipher the motive of every heart. But even still, we must preach to ourselves and believers around us, the Truth of God’s Word and what He says.

And this passage makes it very clear, we are NOT to make a big deal about our giving; for if we do, we will have no reward from our Father in heaven.

I’m sure you’ve seen the videos… We are NOT to disguise ourselves as a homeless person needing help only to give the first generous person a thousand dollars for their act of goodness. We are NOT to go around Walmart or Target asking people if they want $500 for themselves or to give to someone else and film their doings. We are NOT to post about how much money we contributed to an endowment fund as if that’s going to elevate our status or earn us a plaque on the wall. We are NOT to give to others with the expectation or anticipation that we will someday receive the same giving back.

We give because Christ first gave to us. We don’t do our act of goodness because we want something, we act from the loving kindness of Christ’s Holy Spirit within us to do an act of goodness prompted by our faith in Him. He tells us what to give and how much to give; if we’re willing to listen, He tells us what to do so that through us He may satisfy, fulfill, and bring to realization that God is with the person receiving the act of goodness.

A time is coming when the Son of Man, in all his glory, will separate the people from one another, putting sheep on the right and goats on this left.

To one He will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Matt. 25:34-40

To the other, he will say, “Depart from me… ‘…whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” Matt. 25:45

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21-23.

Practical Example

To put this in perspective, I have been on the receiving end of an act of goodness, several times truly, prompted by one’s faith, and it indeed accomplished only what the Lord knew I needed in that moment. It wasn’t always a financial gift, but the following example of an act of goodness was.

I had worked in the professional world for several years before deciding to leave. We had just had our first child, Izaiah; I was commuting a little over an hour a day to work and it had become too much. I liked my job, I was good at what I did, and I had hopes for a future, but it just wasn’t conducive to our new family dynamic. After much prayer, Jaron and I both felt strongly the Lord was calling me home to care for and raise our son. Without a plan of how I was going to supplement the lost income, I just took a step of faith and left my job.

Yet even in the confidence of what we believed we heard from the Lord, the over-abundance of bills versus income was on the trajectory of putting us under. We were barely getting by and had some unexpected bills come up. I had been home 3 or 4 months when I had convinced myself that we heard wrong and that I needed to go find a job. Just as I was beginning my search for local jobs, I received a card in the mail. It was from a family we knew but didn’t spend an abundance of time with. Inside the card was a letter that said, “The Lord had put you on our hearts to pray for you for some time. We are so proud of you for making the decision to stay home as the Lord has led you. It would bless us if you would accept this gift.”

Included was a sizeable financial gift that was exactly what we needed to take care of the bills.

This person’s faith in Christ allowed the Holy Spirit to move in them, prompting them to first pray and then to extend an act of goodness that not only satisfied our needs, but also brought us to a realization that God still had us in His hands even if it seemed like we were going to go under, financially.

It certainly met our financial needs for a time, but more than that, the words that were written in this card were words I had been praying for the Lord to affirm for me. But only He and I knew that- yet through this praying family, they wrote the words of Jesus to my heart.

Only that kind of act of goodness, prompted by faith, can accomplish, or fulfill, all that God had intended for us.

They didn’t broadcast their giving for others to know about. They didn’t tell the church what they did. They didn’t even ask us about it when we ran into them in town. They simply acted from the kindness of their heart, through the Fruit of Spirit, to be a blessing through their act of goodness.

It is God Who Works

As we have discovered, our act of goodness prompted by faith and the Holy Fruit of Kindness can only accomplish or fulfill the Father’s will if we are connected to His Spirit, patiently waiting for Him to orchestrate what needs to be done spiritually in the lives of those acting in goodness and receiving the act of goodness. “Apart from Him, we can do nothing.”

“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13

Be cautious of your motive- it is for Christ? Did he prompt you with the idea? Do you seek something in return- a pat on the back, name on a plaque, money, social status, more likes or followers on social media, professional elevation; do you expect a reciprocated behavior done to you?

Kindness and Goodness Rooted in Love

Goodness, as we learned, speaks to service or ministry to others; it is the natural result of kindness.

All of this is summed up, or rooted, in love. Love is foundational to all things; God is love and therefore as we come to know Christ our Savior, we learn love and act in the Fruit of Love (and Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness and Goodness).

The Apostle Paul emphasized the importance of service to others; how serving in love is an expression of goodness.

In Galatians 5:13-17, we read, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.”

We Give Because God Gives

Much like we are called to demonstrate God’s loving-kindness and goodness to others, we’re only able to because Christ first did so for us.

God demonstrated loving-kindness and goodness to us through merciful discipline.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:6-8.

When our Heavenly Father rebukes, corrects, encourages, and disciplines, it is for the purpose of bringing us to repentance so that through Christ Jesus, He can demonstrate His great mercy (kindness) to us.

When we receive, we can’t help but give to others because of the freedom and blessing we have received.

But we don’t receive just so we can give. Are you following me?

“’It is more blessed to give than to receive’” quoting Jesus in Act 20:35.

Again, an act of goodness is not always monetary. When I say “give” I don’t always mean giving money. Giving can include giving your time, food, clothing, help (heavy lifting), and prayer. Our minds are limited, God is infinite and so much greater to conceive what is needed to accomplish more through you. Instead of trying to figure out your giving, be humble and open to His prompting. He will guide you. Always.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Cor. 9:6-8

Disclaimer: I want to make it blatantly clear; I am not teaching the prosperity gospel, or the Word of Faith Movement, which has become prominent in some churches. This is a false teaching. God’s Word warns us explicitly about false prophets and false teachers. I do not endorse or believe this teaching.

This teaching is pitting God’s Word against Himself. It’s taking the power of what only God can do and accomplish and suggesting God’s people have the power to do it. Now, I believe our words have power, but not the power to manipulate God into doing what we want.

Our generosity, or acts of goodness, is not linked to monetary blessings within the body of the big “c” Church.

We give because He first gave to us. We give because out of His love and sacrifice, we are filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for our new life in Jesus Christ. When we are filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we give because we want others to have what we have-God’s Love. That’s it.

Final Note

As we grow in these spiritual fruits, as the Spirit develops them in us, we begin to see people around us as God sees them. We begin to reach out to them with His love manifested in us. Our act of goodness is directed to bringing others to know Him as their personal Savior and to ministering to their specific needs. This may include fellowship, hospitality, helping with problems, giving encouragement- but the most important of all, showing love. Extending His love is the greatest commandment as a follower of Jesus Christ.

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