Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness…. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge 2 Peter 1:3, 5
Were you ever called a “goody two shoes”? Everyone probably knows one. This is a person who has a cheerful outlook toward everyone and everything. Even when someone lets them down, the strongest words they have for that person is, “Well bless their little hearts.” Goodness defeats hatred and drives it from a Christian’s heart.
It is then perhaps ironic that Jesus told the young man who called Him good,
So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. Mark 10:18
We aren’t good and don’t have a lot of goodness in us in our fallen state. However, when we become a Christian, our sins are forgiven, and our vices can be wiped clean by the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The attributes of which are patience, kindness, humility, abstinence (also called temperance or self-control), faith, love, joy, peace, and goodness. In review, we have covered these virtues in earlier articles as they help defeat our vices of anger, envy, pride, gluttony(unconstraint), fear, apathy, grief, anxiety, and hatred.
Only through the power of the Holy Spirit, living in us, can we truly and effectively live a Christ like life. We are given this power to have all the attributes of His Spirit in us when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and become His disciple. That is why, in our key verse, Peter adds that goodness should lead to increased knowledge. We must know what we believe and why we believe it for all the fruit of the Spirit to function in us. The Apostle Paul went so far to commend the Romans that he wrote,
I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Romans 15:14
Goodness isn’t a New Testament concept. Goodness is an attribute of God and was expected of His followers in Old Testament times as well. Knowledge of God and his teaching helped the Israelites in their daily life.
So you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness. Proverbs 2:20
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His plans have never changed. As the many songs, slogans and jingles proclaim, “You’ve got the power!” It’s time we used it for God’s glory.
Prayer: 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
