Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Goodness is one of the beautiful qualities the Holy Spirit produces in us as we grow in Christ. We know that God is good, and most of us have experienced His goodness in ways we couldn’t begin to count. But there’s something else He wants us to understand. His goodness isn’t just something we’re supposed to receive and enjoy. It’s something that should be growing in us so that others can experience it through the way we live. When we belong to Jesus Christ, our lives should demonstrate that we’ve been changed by the goodness of our Heavenly Father.
01 — The Fruit: What Does It Mean?
Psalm 34:8 (ESV) tells us, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
God invites us to open our mouths wide and take in as much of His goodness as humanly possible. When we do this, the result is the same every time. We will see that He is good, and His goodness never ends. Having faith in God’s goodness gives us the strength and courage to face whatever obstacles and adversity come our way, because we can be confident that God is our Refuge.
Goodness is part of God’s nature, and it is a quality He wants reflected in His children. It’s more than being pleasant, polite, or doing something nice when it’s convenient. The goodness the Holy Spirit produces in us includes a desire to do what is right in God’s eyes and to treat others in ways that honor Him. Our Heavenly Father has shown us that goodness isn’t just a pretty word. It is goodness put into action, and it leaves an indelible mark of God’s love.
We should also understand that goodness and kindness, although closely connected, aren’t exactly the same. Kindness causes us to be thoughtful, compassionate, and considerate toward others. Goodness includes these things, but it also involves having the kind of character that chooses what is right according to God’s Word. We can be kind to someone and still refuse to participate in something we know is wrong. We can love people and still tell them the truth. The Holy Spirit doesn’t produce goodness in us so that we’ll simply be agreeable. He helps us become people who love what God loves and are willing to stand for what is right.
02 — We See It in Jesus Christ
God has demonstrated His goodness toward us through the finished work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished through His sacrifice and resurrection, we can receive the gift of salvation. God put it all on the line for us through His only begotten Son, and this was only the beginning. Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior brings us into God’s family, and it begins our wonderful relationship with Heavenly Father.
When we look at how Jesus Christ lived, we see goodness in everything He did. Acts 10:38 tells us that He went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed by the devil. Jesus didn’t reserve His compassion for people who could do something for Him. He ministered to the sick, welcomed those others rejected, fed the hungry, and gave His time to people who desperately needed Him. He also confronted sin and taught people the truth. His goodness was never separated from His obedience to the Father. This is the example we’re called to follow.
We see another beautiful example of His goodness in Mark 3:1–6, when Jesus entered the synagogue and encountered a man with a deformed hand. The religious leaders were watching Him closely, hoping He would heal the man on the Sabbath so they could accuse Him of breaking their religious rules. Isn’t that something? Here was a man who needed help, and instead of being concerned about his condition, these leaders were more interested in finding something wrong with what Jesus was doing. But Jesus wasn’t going to allow their attitudes to stop Him from doing what was right. He asked them whether the law permitted doing good or doing evil on the Sabbath, saving a life or destroying it. They wouldn’t answer Him.
Scripture tells us that Jesus was deeply saddened by the hardness of their hearts. He told the man to hold out his hand, and when the man obeyed, his hand was restored. This is something we need to think about. There will be times when doing what is good and pleasing to God won’t sit well with everybody. People will have their opinions, and some will even criticize us for doing what God’s Word tells us to do. But we can’t allow that to move us away from what is right. The Holy Spirit helps us to stand firm in God’s Word and do what pleases our Heavenly Father, even when others don’t agree with us.
03 — The Fruit in Action: A Biblical Example
In Acts 9, we meet a believer named Tabitha, also called Dorcas. She wasn’t introduced to us as someone with a great title or an important position. The Bible tells us something about her that speaks volumes.
Acts 9:36 (NLT) says, “There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.”
When Tabitha died, the widows gathered and showed Peter the clothing she had made for them. Her goodness had touched their lives in a very personal way. They had something to show for the love and care she had given them. Isn’t that something? We don’t know how much money Tabitha had or what other responsibilities she carried, but we know she made herself available to help people who needed her.
There’s another important lesson here. Tabitha’s good works weren’t presented as something she did once in a while when she had a little extra time. Scripture tells us that she was always doing good and helping others. This was part of how she lived. We should never underestimate the impact of consistently doing what is right and helping people who need us. We don’t have to hold an important position or have a lot of money to demonstrate the goodness of God.
Goodness doesn’t always require something grand. Sometimes it’s the willingness to see a need and do what we can to meet it. Tabitha’s example reminds us that the good we do for others can mean far more to them than we realize.
04 — When the Holy Spirit Grows This Fruit in Us
We must understand that we can’t produce the Spirit’s fruit simply by deciding to be better people. We can certainly make an effort to do good things, but the goodness God wants growing in us must come from a heart that is being changed by His Spirit. As we renew our minds to His Word and follow the Spirit’s guidance, our desires and attitudes begin to change. We become more concerned about pleasing God than pleasing ourselves.
Ephesians 2:10 teaches us that we were created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things God planned for us long ago. This is an important part of our spiritual growth. Heavenly Father hasn’t called us to sit around enjoying His blessings while giving little thought to the needs of others. He wants us to use our lives to respond to His generosity, and one of the best ways we can do this is by sharing His goodness. We must also remember that doing good works doesn’t earn us salvation. We’re saved through God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ. Our good works should be the evidence of the new life we’ve received through Him.
Ephesians 5:8–10 teaches us that we were once full of darkness, but now we have light from the Lord. Paul instructs us to live as people of light and to carefully determine what pleases the Lord. He also tells us that this light within us produces what is good, right, and true. This helps us understand why goodness is so much more than doing something nice for another person. It’s about allowing God’s Word to govern our decisions and being willing to obey Him, even when it’s difficult.
We won’t always feel like doing what is right. There will be times when selfishness, resentment, or plain old inconvenience gets in the way. That’s when we must yield to the Holy Spirit instead of allowing those feelings to make our decisions for us. Sometimes He’ll bring something to our attention that we need to correct. It could be an attitude we’ve been holding on to, something dishonest we’ve said, or a situation where we’ve failed to do what we know is right. We can’t ignore His correction and expect to grow spiritually. We must be willing to repent, make things right where we can, and continue following His guidance.
05 — What This Fruit Looks Like in Our Lives Today
We have opportunities to demonstrate goodness every day. It might mean helping someone who can’t repay us, being honest when dishonesty would benefit us, or giving our time to a person who needs encouragement. It might mean refusing to participate in something we know is wrong, even when everybody else seems comfortable doing it. And sometimes doing good will cost us something. We might lose an opportunity, disappoint someone, or have to admit that we’ve made a mistake. But pleasing God must be more important to us than protecting our own interests.
And let’s not overlook how we treat people in our own homes. Sometimes we can be generous and considerate toward people outside our families while showing very little of that same goodness to the people who live with us. We must be careful about this. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t something we put on when we’re around other believers. It should be evident in our private lives as well.
We also need to be careful about becoming discouraged when our efforts to do good seem to go unnoticed. There will be times when we help people and they don’t appreciate it. We might do what is right and still face criticism or opposition. But we can’t allow those experiences to convince us that doing good isn’t worth the effort. Our responsibility is to obey God, and He sees what others may never acknowledge.
Our Heavenly Father has given us the greatest example of goodness. We must be committed to following His example. Not only should our lives reflect His goodness through generosity, kindness, and godly living, but we should be eager to share that goodness with others. When we allow the Holy Spirit to grow this fruit in us, our lives become a greater witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Examining Our Walk
- Are we demonstrating God’s goodness in the way we treat people, especially those who can’t do anything for us in return?
- Are there areas of our lives where we know the right thing to do, but we’ve allowed selfishness or convenience to stand in the way?
- Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to change our hearts so that doing good becomes part of how we live, rather than something we do occasionally?
Closing Scripture — Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“The Spirit’s Fruit — Goodness”, written by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring Christian Women to live boldly through God’s Word.
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