Romans 15:14, “Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.”
The Lord is the personification of perfect choosing, and His heart is always, always, always inclined to goodness, without even an inkling, a thin shade of anything less. In Exodus 34:6 goodness is a noun which goes with the verb, truth as a married pair, meaning the verb truth frames the noun goodness, they go together, are abundant, and make us beautiful in Christ.
Paul urged believers to be “full of goodness”. The word goodness meaning “the manifestation of kindness, equipped for action”, or “an abundant inclination to will and do what is merciful with hands of compassion”. God is a good God, and we, who are believers, are to be as He is. It is more than merely saying, “I’m a good person”, meaning we pay our bills, keep a job, care for our family, etc, etc….Paul’s intent was a call to be like the Lord, not just keep the rules which fetch us the approval of others. There is real power that comes from being good for the Lord’s goodness is precedence setting power. As Paul means it, it is an attribute of God, Himself, and is a quality we possess also because He lives in us, through Christ we have a bond to goodness that is everlasting. Be strong and courageous!
With the Lord compassion is a continual spring of water, a flowing stream making Him a pillar of support from beginning to end. The call of God bids us to be as He is. Within compassion is impartible hidden goodness, but it’s the kind of goodness that is concealed and also revealed. A little of God’s goodness in us goes a long way, or it could be said it is the “little which holds much”. A Godly attitude will overcome selfish motivations, until all our offense and defensiveness is won over by the goodness of God.
Psalm 86:5 “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.” The Lord our God is shown, consistently throughout scripture as being abundant in goodness. The Hebrew perspective is that not only is the Lord good, but he IS goodness, or kindness, He instructs men in kindness, and mankind can only obtain kindness from God, who is the sole possessor of kindness. In the Lord’s lovingkindness, or His goodness and favor, i hide myself from darkness. i make Him as my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge.
In this life, as hard as i’ve tried, i can testify and be firm, there is not another place or person like our God. His goodness covers us, and He acts towards us like the gentle Shepherd He is, mercifully treating our afflictions with everlasting kindness. Were it not for the goodness or kindness of God towards men, once again, there would be no hope of salvation. But God, gosh i love saying that, but God in His infinite goodness towards us, didn’t leave us to die in our estrangement and sin, instead gave to us a path out of the wilderness of sin and the growing distance between man and Himself.
When i was down a dead-end road of my own design and implementation, with no idea how to get home again. In His practice of compassion towards me, God’s goodness covered me like a morning cloud; He had pity on me. He extends His goodness to the lowly, needy, and miserable, and even extended it to me.
We should trust in, hope in, and rejoice in the goodness of God, for He has been liberal with favor towards us. He is abundant and rich in kindness, His goodness is endless. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.
i’m Social Porter for Living in His Name Ministries