.....getting honest about the fruit of the spirit. This has been a harder pill to swallow. I thought I had this fruit of the spirit thing under control......that I had it handled......that I was moving in the right direction; but as I have taken an honest look at the pure, raw truths of what it means to live by the fruit of the spirit - it is being like Jesus. It is a daily turning my life over to Him. My thoughts, my attitudes, my actions, my heart, my tongue. I have found that I like the sound, the smell, touch & of course the benefits of living by the fruit of the spirit but it definately takes time, practice & attention.
Just like our yard work or a garden takes time and attention (daily) so that weeds do not take over my beautiful landscape and so that it is pleasant to enjoy I need to daily spend time and attention with the Master Gardener for Him to prune my branches & dig out the weeds in my heart so that I am not overtaken by them but can reflect His beauty.
Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
As I have worked through the list lets review a little....
Love...being there in Everything. Love is the fruit that gets us past the "being nice" to the offering of love in everything even when it's hard to love people each & every day.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8, it says, " Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Joy is connected to Hope, to Love, and to a perspective that sees beyond the immediate to the eternal.....the big picture of life. The fruit of joy is confidence in God. Joy is confidence in God's grace, despite circumstances - despite what happens. Joy is the ability to hold on because we know we are being held up by the One who gives us Joy and Hope and Confidence.
Peace is the result of resting in God. Peace comes from resting in a relationship that holds us in the midst of life's storms and in the momentary calm of their aftermath. Peace is not the absence of problems/storms in life but it is the very Presence of God in our lives.
Then there is Patience...Patience is hanging in there with hard-to-love people. This fruit is hard to peel, much less practice, in the raw day-to-day of life! I don't know about you but patience seems to be one of the tough-to-grow fruits. I know for me I would much rather see love and peace growing in my life than patience.....especially when it comes to the hard-to-love people in my life:) I feel the sandpaper rubbing out the roughness in me so that I can truly love everyone....even the hard-to-love people that God brings into my life.
Ephesians 4:2 - "Be patient, bearing with one another in love."(NIV) -"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."(NLT) - "Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love."
Then Kindness.....and at the root, to be kind means to be "useful". Kindness is meeting needs. indness is action with compassion. Kindness cares, and because it cares, it acts. Kindness gets involved. As I was studying the fruit of kindness I have discovered that it is one thing to muster up kindness to meet the needs of a clothing drive for the homeless, or provide school supplies foe an inner city school or even your own child's classroom, or take a meal to a family in need; but you know where kindness is the most costly? At home. It can be hard to continue to express kindness to those we know well because behind the closed doors our charitable smiles can fade as well as our willingness to help out. We can tend to do a better job of extending kindness outside our homes than inside. As I look around my home the needs are never ending......the laundry, dishes, clean bathrooms, meals to cook, lunches to pack, carpool and picking up after everyone. As I grow weary of this never ending cycle I can also lose the kindness in my attitude and my communication.
I was remembering what Jesus said in Mark 12:31 - "Love your neighbor as yourself." He is teaching us that kindness to others begins with kindness to myself and to my family. We can be kind to others only when we continue to replenish our tank of kindness by being kind to ourselves.
Let's bring the fruit home....literally by letting kindness, patience, peace, joy and love start in us and then spill over to our families and then to everyone that the Lord brings across our paths:)
Determine to wake up with kindness. Let's turn the myth around that kindness is best expressed outside the home and instead , start your kindness at home.
Proverbs 31:26 - " She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness."
Ephesians 4:32 - "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
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