Faithful on Fridays Blog

Part Six

There’s been a lot of teaching and worship music in the last few years that remind us of our spiritual identity. I Am Who You Say I Am by Hillsong, You Say by Lauren Daigle, or Made New by Lincoln Brewster to name a few. It’s vital for believers to remember who we are in Christ, however, it’s also essential to remember that it was God who showed us His spiritual identity first. Read on.

The next two pieces of fruit to explore are kindness and goodness, thankfully, God showed us those attributes so we could recognize them in Him and, in turn, pattern ourselves after them.

Lovingkindness, unfailing love, steadfast love, grace, or mercy are words translators choose for the one Hebrew word chesed. In this passage God declared His spiritual identity as chesed:

“Please, Lord, prove that Your power is as great as You have claimed. For You said, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion.’ In keeping with Your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people …” Numbers 14:17-18a, 19a

Kindness is when someone demonstrates acts of grace or undeserved favor to meet your needs (Eph. 2:7). Jesus showed kindness to everyone He met and encouraged us to be like Him:

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:35-36 ESV

As the Lord meets and even surpasses our needs, how much more should we meet the needs of others and be like Him?

Goodness is also an attribute of God that we copy in our lives. Goodness is the desire to be generous (Pv. 19:17) and benefit others whenever we have the opportunity. Only God is truly good (Ps. 100:5) but after He washes away our sin (Rom. 2:4) we are good as well. People say, “He’s a good person” but true goodness is when the Holy Spirit prompts us into action and we obey. The motivation to be good is Spirit-directed and empowered as we desire to please God.

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Acts of the Apostles 10:38 NLT

It’s no different with us then it was with Jesus; we’re given the power of the Holy Spirit to do good to others which includes healing and deliverance. Put yourself in the position of showing kindness and goodness to others by meeting their needs wherever you can and strive to be generous in every way.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalms 34:8a