“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith” (2 Thessalonians 1:11, NIV).

Goodness is one of the nine spiritual fruits listed by the Apostle Paul in Galatians Chapter Five. Like the other fruits of the Spirit, goodness flows from the life of the believer. Goodness is observable in the Christian as he lives out his faith.

Almost every occasion that the word “goodness” appears in Scripture, however, it is in relation to God’s goodness. Rarely is it used in referring to humans, except for when Christians are being addressed. Perhaps this is because humans, at their very core, are not by nature good, but sinful. It’s only when God changes the human heart that man begins to demonstrate real goodness.

In the first days of Creation, God remarked that the Earth and all that he had formed was good. As we are recreated to be more in the image of the Creator God who is the personification of goodness, we model this Spirit fruit in our lives.