INTRODUCTION:

    Philip Yancey writes, in The Jesus I Never Knew, that he learned something about the incarnation from having a salt-water aquarium. He writes: “I learned about incarnation when I kept a saltwater aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium, I discovered, is no easy task. …You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, that my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank, they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one emotion only: fear. …To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and speak to them in a language they could understand.”

    We and our neighbors live in a world of evil, of selfishness, of hate. If we are to bring anyone to Jesus Christ, we need to – in a sense – incarnate Jesus Christ to our friends and one way we do that is by living a good life in front of them. 

    There are many times in funeral eulogies that I could summarize the person’s life by simply saying, “He or she was a good person.” What does it mean to be a “good person”? How can we be “good people”? What are the qualities that make up a “good person”? Paul says in Romans 15:14 that the Christians in Rome were “full of goodness.” Therefore, we know that we can be good, we can even be good in God’s eyes! How? Let’s study the quality of “goodness” this week.

LET US DEFINE “GOOD” AS “LOVE IN ACTION”:

    We begin with the idea that love is an attitude that motivates one to action and we’ll define that action as “good.” So to word that another way, “love desires the good of another.” Do you see the distinction between “good” and “love”? Love is the attitude that motivates us to do something and the “something” we do is “good.” “Love desires the good of another.” 

 WE NEED TO DESIRE TO BE GOOD:

    Being “good” begins, with the desire to be good. Love is a choice and so good is a choice. We want to show love; therefore, we desire to be good, to do good. Paul wrote the Christians in Thessalonica in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power.”

    Notice Paul writes of “fulfilling their every desire for goodness.” We have to want to be good. Therefore, being good is the end result of decisions we make. It does not necessarily happen by accident or without any thought.

    You remember the woman who died in Acts 9, who was raised from the dead by the apostle Peter… Dorcas? Luke writes that when she was alive, she “abounded with deeds of kindness (NASV) and charity” (9:36). The word translated “kindness” is the Greek word for “good.” 

Paul Holland