Goodness: Goodness is the next fruit. Goodness seems pretty straight forward to me. Dictonary.com says: the state or quality of being good or moral excellence: virtue. That is the first straight definition that I think goes with this fruit. Morality now days is a big deal. It's not always evident in our everyday lives. Morality is defined as, conformity to the rules of right conduct. The rules as you know are in the bible already so all we have to do is follow. Easier said than done. We are bombarded everyday with images, speech, and attitudes that just don't conform to our (or God's) rules of right conduct. I think this warrants a closer look at the 10 commandments God did give us.
The 10 Commandments(among other rules) were given to Moses directly from God. They are the basis of morality for many segments such as Jewish, Christian, Catholic religions to name a few. In order to keep your morality intact you have to follow this list of rules as follows: 1 You shall have no other God before me: God must be acknowledged as the one true God and his commandments must be up held. This forbids worship or giving glory to any other thing or God. Did you hear that I said "THING or God". That means to me I'm not to place ANYTHING before God. That could be: my husband, my money, my free time, my own selfish wants, anything! 2. Do not make yourself an idol: this also means not to make anything more important in your life than God but it's more than that I think. To me it simply means don't create anything that you worship like it is God. Now I want to be kind an not step on any toes but this commandment seems pretty straight forward to me. We are to use no symbol, sign, statue or picture to worship God. Also though I think it is a warning not to lose ourselves in something insubstantial, like a ritual. Our worship of God shouldn't be based on things we've always done, it should be based on our love and relationship with God himself. 3. You shall not take the Lord your God's name in vain: Now I have to admit this used to confuse my as a child but I think it was all in the wording. Now that I am looking it up I have to say it means, Hold God in reverence. Don't be disrespectful in speech to God or about God. Also Don't speak as if your words are from God if they aren't. Just basically don't lie about what God says. That's a big burden, not to mislead others in the name of God as well as a good reason to study your bible! 4. Remember the Sabbath by keeping it Holy: I think this is less about the actual day of Sunday and more about remembering to stop and worship. We spend most of our lives running around like crazy, and God specifically is telling you to take a day off and reflect on him. I think the "keeping it holy" part is important too. Keep your Sabbath holy by doing something different, don't let it be the same as any other day. Let it be God's day. Now I believe you should be in touch with God everyday of every week, but we need to break out and worship in a special way by avoiding anything unnecessary that takes your focus away from God. 5. Honor your father and mother: This is pretty straightforward, but in some of my reading they expanded on it by stating it also implied, "reverence and obedience to authority, especially father and mother." We are to respect all authority, and as it turns out, every mother is somebody's mother know what I'm saying! We should be respectful of anyone who is in authority, now that doesn't mean you have to agree with them just be respectful people. 6. You shall not murder: my bible notes say that means a premeditated or deliberate or unjustly. Now there is a big debate around here about what is Just and unjust. Murder is the word that decides it. The bible talks abut wars and killing, but God says do not MURDER. Murder in the dictionary says: the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. I agree with that, but it has to be based on God's laws. 7. You shall not commit adultery: This commandment I believe is not just the act of sexual intercourse while married or with a married partner but any unchaste thoughts, words or actions on our part. It is also noted that the sin of adultery is a sin committed directly against God, as it was him with whom the covenant of marriage was made. Now I bet that if I just said do not commit adultery many people would say, well I would never do that, but do they realize that impure thoughts are just as bad as actions? There would be a lot more guilty parties if everyone comprehended that to it's far reaching extent. I think that sexual thoughts, words and actions, outside of marriage can be put in the same category. 8. You shall not steal: there are thoughts that the original meaning behind this word steal was something more like kidnap but I really don't think it matters. It's more of a be lawful. Don't take anything that doesn't belong to you. There is no price range on that either people. It doesn't say don't take anything that is worth more than 5 dollars....it says don't steal! 9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor: Tell the truth. Don't let something someone else says cloud your judgment, and don't gossip either. If you don't know what is going on don't guess or speculate. 10. You shall not covet: That goes for anything. Don't want what someone else has because jealousy plants a seed of sin in your heart. It has been proven over and over again, no good can come of it.
Now I know God says there are other things to be mindful of, but this is a bare outline. I could talk about rules all night but I'm not here to do that. I don't even think of them as rules. The word RULES to me means something you are supposed to do but don't want to! I just don't see it that way with Gods rules. To honor God's rules is to honor God, Just as the fruit of Goodness honors him, and shows his presence in our lives. If you are truly God's child, you don't WANT to do anything against God. Trying to emulate Jesus Christ means we reject these things out right as ungodly. Here is another example. If my husband comes in the house and says "Woman do my laundry and then make me something to eat!" do you think that is going to happen? I know, I know the man is the head of the household and his wife is to be submissive to him. This isn't even the issue though, because I love my husband. The love I have for him turns my heart. Instead of slaving away, it's doing something nice for him, to make him feel good and know that I appreciate him and when I have that attitude it's always easier work too! Now we should let our love dictate to treat God in the same way. Don't trudge away crying about not being able to do what you want cause God says you cant. Do these things because it shows God that we appreciate and love him (as well as being good for sustaining our lives on earth). It's not a Job it's a privilege to show God's Goodness.
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