One Word At A Time: Goodness
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 9:57AM MAD21 By MAD21
I think "goodness" is one of those words that we hear a lot, but if asked what it was would be difficult to define. Is it truly possible to be good, or acquire goodness? We hear about goodness being wished upon someone, or giving it to someone, but is it something that can be given? Goodness is one of the fruits of the Spirit and it's referred to several times in the Bible. It's usually something that is in God's possession that he is sharing with us:
"And the LORD said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you..." (Exodus 33:19)
"..may your saints rejoice in your goodness." (2 Chronicles 6:41)
"Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life..." (Psalm 23:6)
"How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you." (Psalm 31:19)
"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness" (Galations 5:22)
One of my favorite Christmas songs talks about God's goodness. Do You Hear What I Hear is all about Christ's coming and ends with:
"The Child, the Child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light"
In the dictionary, goodness is defined as: "...moral excellence; virtue; the best part of anything; essence; a euphemism for God..." I have to say, I don't think I've ever looked up this word. I've used the word, but now I'm realizing I only have a general understanding of what it really means.
Have you ever wondered what exactly the goodness is that God will be giving us? When we say, "Oh, for goodness sake!" Do we know what we are really saying? I love the idea that goodness is "the best part of anything." This is awesome. That and the fact that "goodness is a euphemism for God" means that all things good are essentially the best part of God himself.
God wants to share the best part of himself with us.
I attended a children's pastor's conference about 14 years ago. We had several wonderful speakers but one stood out to me. Tony Campolo spoke to us about how parents and children's leaders all work so hard to make our children happy. With a huge amount of passion he asked us, "Why is it so important to us that our children should be happy, when what we should be concerned about is them being good?" The words he spoke regarding this issue were amazing and even though I had no children of my own at the time, they stuck with me like super glue. It's true isn't it? We want so bad for our children to grow up happy, that we forget that our focus should be on them being good and making good choices in their lives. And as we all know, sometimes when we need to be good, it's hard, and certainly doesn't make us happy (at least at the time).
Perhaps by helping our children grow up to be good people, making good choices, we are also equipping them to allow God to shine through them onto other people. If all goodness is part of God, why wouldn't we want to be sure we are allowing that goodness to shine through us, too?
These past few weeks we've seen warmer weather in this part of the country. And by warmer I mean above freezing (and it was 60 today!). The gigantic mountains of snow left by the plows and backhoes from the blizzards we had last month are finally starting to melt. It makes me think of how beautiful things seem when everything is covered in fresh snow. But once it starts to melt and all the dirt and trash is revealed, how ugly things become.
Will any goodness be revealed in us once this world melts away? I would sure like to hope so.
This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Bridget Chumbley's One Word at a Time.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Goodness.
Goodness, One Word At A Time in One Word At A Time
Reader Comments (3)
Yes we must be more concern with the goodness of our children instead of always trying to please them and making them happy. We all desreve a little attention and happiiness but we must also teach them the iportance of making others happy.
I realized I didn't know the actual definition of goodness either.
I agree that instilling goodness into our children is a great way to let the goodness of God shine through! Great post, Ginny.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one, Bridget! This was a great word for us to do for the carnival. I'm so glad we started doing this last fall. It's been a fun project to be part of.
Thanks for the comment, Bernadette!