Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(Galatians 5:22-23)

Meditation

I can say, without a shadow of doubt, that I have begun producing all of this fruit in my life since giving my heart to Jesus. I still struggle with self-control from time to time. Especially over worldly topics like politics. I don’t know anyone I hate. Even those who don’t like or even hate me. Christ has put in my heart to love everyone, and so, I do. Before I submitted my life to Christ, I had no true understanding of what real joy was. I try not to get joy and happiness confused. I choose to have joy because Jesus is my master. Even when I’m not happy, I have joy in my heart.

I once thought I already had peace without any need for Jesus. I had a long list of people who really bugged me, so I avoided them at all cost, and had peace of mind. I loved my family and a few friends, but I didn’t trust most people enough to even think about loving them. It’s easy to love the people who love me but how about people who hate me? I didn’t know, or care about, what goodness was because I wasn’t good in any sense of the term. I thought patience was not firing an employee when they didn’t live up to my expectations, or not spanking my kids when they were bad. I was faithful to my spouse, except for a few instances of lust in my heart. I have always been kind to my parents and gentle with my children. The plain truth is, whatever I had before Christ was only a mirage.

I think most of us remember a certain church from Kansas that openly displays their contempt and hatred for gays. They also show up at funerals of our fallen soldiers to tell whoever will listen that God hates them. How can they claim a baptism of the Holy Spirit if they are still producing a fruit of bitterness and hatred for anyone? The true Christian loves everyone regardless of whether we agree with them. The secular world wants us to shut up and keep our religion to ourselves. They pass laws to punish us if we share our faith to co-workers. When we do produce the good fruit, it demonstrates we are covered by the grace of God the Father. The good fruit will only come when we surrender to the power of the one and only Son of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Daily Prayer

Holy God, you are three in One; Father, Spirit, Son! How do we comprehend the magnificence of that? How do we explain you to an unbeliever? With the baptism of your Spirit we gain so much. Your Spirit works in us to give us a new outlook about everything. Thank you for the fruits of the Spirit you give us. We may have thought we had some of these fruits before you saved us, but they are made complete by you. Now we know what real love is along with joy, peace, and all the others. Thank you, Father, for cultivating in us, these fruits to bring glory to yourself through our lives of service to you. Protect us, Lord, from those who would call our good deeds evil and their evil deeds good. Secular customs may prevail for a brief time, Lord, but your laws and precepts are for everlasting. There can be no law against us, as long as we stay on a righteous path. Please, Father, give us the courage to always allow your Holy Spirit to lead us. It’s in the precious and holy name of Jesus, we pray. Amen