F. GOODNESS
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good”. Romans 12:9.
Being good means to hate evil. We cannot be good when we live in and love evil. Don Hooser puts it as the spiritual fruit of goodness enables sinful man to do good and to be good—good in the truest sense of the word. Goodness, after all, is the essence of God’s nature. When we hear the word Good, it sounds in our ears as something being appreciated to meet a standard of someone’s work or expectations. In Matthew 19:17, Jesus made a comment that no one is good apart from God. This means that we have not lived in the standard set by God for us to be qualified for the word GOOD. It is when we respond to the grace, love, and providence of God that our Goodness is seen as Good.
Christians are exhorted to do good works, such as teaching and preaching the Word of God, encouraging and serving in various ways within the fellowship of believers. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:9, 10)
From Ephesians 2:10, we realize that goodness is deeper than what the dictionary defines it to be. We realize in the verse that goodness is attained when we abide in Christ and He also abides in us because it’s ordained by God for us to walk in it only if we are created in Christ. We therefore see the connection here and how the fruit of the spirit is linked together. We become good by staying with Christ, and Staying with Christ is bearing the fruit of the spirit.
Though our natural inclination is to defy God in sin, He has determined to help us overcome that nature to live a life of righteousness and goodness. This is possible only through a relationship with Him. As the apostle John explained, “He who does good [as a way of life] is of God, but he who does evil [as a way of life] has not seen God [i.e., has not come to really know Him]” (3 John 11).
For all the other good things we do is worth nothing if we don’t abide in Christ. Do we want to work for no reward?
G: FAITH.
“So then faith cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17.
Faith from Cambridge dictionary means trust – great trust or confidence in something or someone. I personally think faith is a strong belief, plus actions, plus trust in something or someone and as Christians; we have our faith in God only.
Faith in the Old Testament is mainly based on the meaning ‘truly dependable’. The word ‘faith’ is not mentioned more than ten times in the Old Testament. It actually meant ‘to believe’, that is, Isaiah 7:9, ‘if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established’. In Habakkuk 2:4, the writer used faith which may mean truly dependable. “The righteous shall live by his faith”. Habakkuk 2:4: – The righteous man will be able to live in the security (depend on someone – God).
In New Testament, faith begins with the secure reality of God inviting men to put the trust in Him. The New Testament is a new conception of faith. Faith is the comprehensive of Trust and Belief. Trust is commonly used of a personal relationship. The difficulty comes with the belief because it’s not personal. Trust tends to have reference to objective propositions which is either accepted or not.
This is where many Christians of today fall short of – BELIEF. They trust the existence of God but the belief of whether God can be there for them is somehow a ‘petty’ thought for many Christians. Jesus stressed on the word ‘belief’ in most of his speeches because He knew how people perceived it. How many Christians can stand up for their beliefs?
A reporter asked the Bishop of Stepney, what he would do if it were suddenly proved that God did not exist. The Bishop replied, “I just can’t conceive that possibility”. (*Ref: \\ John Stacey (About Faith) \\*)
This question will leave so many questions in our minds. And if we don’t agree with the Bishop we have no place in the church, because Jesus told us to believe and we will be SAVED.
Faith therefore involves all parts of the body and everything in us. One has faith with wholeness.
In Ronald Dunn’s book ‘Have Faith’, he stated that most of the time, what we judge as faith is in fact presumption, wishful thinking, selfish desires, some form of positive thinking, and when these keys fail to open doors of God’s promises to us, we then blame God for it. Faith possesses what grace provides. Grace is God’s part and Faith is man’s part.
Faith is the identifying mark of Christians and we become Christians if we live in Christ and Christ lives in us – when we bear the fruit. Be a Christian and have Faith.
(To be continued… )
Derrick Ofori Donkor – 19th Oct. 2013.
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