Goodness is very similar to kindness, but it is a little broader.  It has to do with moral excellence, and it is active in nature.  To have this fruit of the Spirit is to be actively involved in doing good.

Sometimes doing good simply means not doing anything bad.  The good person is not going to engage in the works of the flesh.  His moral excellence will not allow it.  He is not going to engage in sexual immorality or sensuality.  He is going to avoid drunkenness, dissensions, envy, and enmity because that is how goodness behaves.  Goodness, however, is not just avoiding bad things; it is to be a participant in good.  Jesus was a good man.  Do you know how we know this?  Luke tells us.

Acts 10:38 (ESV)
³⁸  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.  

The goodness of Christ is seen in that He went about doing good.  We prove our goodness the same way.  We good because that is what the Spirit leads us to do.  Furthermore, the Spirit teaches us what is truly good.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
¹⁶  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

When we study the Bible, we are being taught by the Spirit, and we are equipping ourselves for every good work.  Then all we have to do is do it!  It may not be what is popular.  It may not even be what is safe.  Just ask Paul about that.  He, like Jesus before him, went about doing good and was persecuted because of it.  Nevertheless, he was doing what was right, and that is what the person who is walking after the Spirit does.  What do we get for doing what is right?  We get God’s approval.

Acts 10:34-35 (ESV)
³⁴  So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵  but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

If you want to please God and be accepted by Him, you must do what is right, that is, you must bear the fruit of goodness.  Do not just do what you want or what is easy, do what is right.  Do not do what everybody else is doing.  That will put you into the category of the majority, and they are heading in the wrong direction.

Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)
¹³  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

You do not want to do what most people are doing, do you?  That is the path to destruction.  Instead, make up in your mind that you are going to do what is right and bear the fruit of goodness.  It is the fruit of the Spirit; and, when you bear that fruit, it puts you in the company of deity.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.