The Fruits: Goodness
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 What is goodness? It is the nature of humans to choose what is good. Of course what an individual perceives as good generally is "good for me." To give a petty example, I may choose pie for breakfast and ice cream for lunch. I crave them and perceive them as very good. In the context of my health and overall well-being, however, they are not so good for me. It is a matter of judgment and perception. On a much greater scale, Hitler did what he thought of as good for himself and even good for Germany. We think of him as a madman, but even madmen choose their perceived good. To bear fruit in true goodness, we have to have the wisdom—and selflessness—that only comes from the Holy Spirit. What then is goodness? The etymological dictionary on historic principles says: Old English gōd (with a long "