Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
This blog will be the final week for us to look at the “Fruits of the Spirit” as identified in Galatians. But, before we jump into the last two fruits, let’s recap our study so far.
- Love stood alone as the first fruit for the study. Love is the fertilizer that grows all the other fruits and love appears as a central theme throughout the Bible. We see how God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to die for us. This fruit appears in us as we learn to love as Christ loves.
- Next, we looked at Joy and Peace. Christian Joy is much broader than just feeling happy. Anchoring our joy in Jesus helps prevent the world from robbing us of it. Peace from a worldly perspective differs from this fruit of the Spirit. Satan thrives on unrest within a soul. But, God gives us a feeling of peace that transcends human understanding.
- Patience and Faithfulness came next in the study. Our patience comes from God faithfully giving us His strength to endure all things. Faithfulness means more than just our faith in God. This fruit also says we are called to be reliable and trustworthy.
- Finally, last week we looked at Kindness and Goodness. Kindness is love in action. When we demonstrate kindness, we shine the love of Christ onto the world. We find goodness in keeping God’s commandments. They put us on the path towards goodness as seen by God. God intends that the commandments be our guideposts for life.
[bctt tweet=”When the fruits are present in us, the world will see Christ in us.”]
Let’s look at the new fruits for this week.The first one is Gentleness. Another word used in place of gentleness is meekness. Stating someone is meek does not come across as a compliment for most of us. We prefer when the words strength and authority are used to define us. God’s meekness is not mousy or weak but instead shows humbleness and power in our submission to God’s will. When we are meek for God, we value others above ourselves and stands in opposition to the prideful. The Bible says clearly in I Peter 5:5 that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. And Psalms 37:11 plainly states that “the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”
Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Self-control is a fruit most will try to avoid in our society. We all want free-will, to do as we please with our lives. “It’s my body so I can do anything I want with it,” gets chanted in the streets of our cities. God calls us to live a life of self-control in our words and actions. Calmness and mildness shall prevail in all we do because we can trust the Lord for everything.
Proverbs 16:32 “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.”
As I studied up on the fruits, I came across a great quote “After all, temperance and love are the bookends that hold all the other fruit in place.” Love leads the way to our life in Christ and self-control helps us to walk the path God has laid out before us. Our job is to cultivate the soil so all these fruits can grow freely in our lives. Jesus said in Matthew 7:20 “Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.” When these fruits are present in us, the world will see Christ in us. The light of Christ glows brightly through the fruits and shines a light into the darkness found around us.
[bctt tweet=”Our job is to cultivate the soil so all these fruits can grow freely in our lives.”]
Blessings,
Yvonne – #blogger, #speaker, and #author
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore, GO and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Additional Resources:
Fruits of the Spirit Bible Study by Kathy Howard