Kindness and Goodness: The Twin Fruits

Kindness vs goodness…what’s the difference? The way I see it from the point of view of our contemporary, every-day terminology, kindness has to do more with actions and goodness more with our nature, our inner essence. They go hand in hand, however, since our actions should reflect the goodness of our hearts. Without goodness, our actions are selfish and self-serving. And in turn, they both depend on love and on the presence of God/Love in us in the person of the Holy Spirit who grows these fruits in our souls. Without God in us, any notion of goodness fizzles for as Romans 3: 10-12 says:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

As humans in a fallen world, where the prince of darkness, Satan, roams and prowls around like a beast waiting to devour us (1 Peter 5: 8), our willingness to choose goodness and righteousness has been corrupted and only by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit our ability to freely choose goodness could be restored. That is why goodness is in the list of fruits that must be grown by the Holy Gardener. Without Him in us we choose darkness…just think about this: have you ever had to tell your or any kid to be bad?

It is the LOVE in us, God in us, what/who makes us good. Without Him…well, you get the point.

Therefore, kindness and goodness are considered often as the “twin fruits.” It is not as if all 9 fruits don’t go together and exist in a sort of vacuum. No! They are all interrelated in the fact that they all depend on Love, God’s presence in us to be developed. But kindness and goodness have a special relationship of interdependence between the two of them. I can’t imagine being really, truly kind without having goodness in your heart nor the other way around. They also have to do with the way we relate to others. They speak of the way we are to treat our neighbors.

Do you see the difference? Are our actions reflecting the kindness and goodness that indwell our soul?

Today I'm linking with:  Simply Better