But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians5:22-23
Yesterday we saw that the Holy Spirit works in us from the INside OUT.
Paul describes this as bearing fruit.
When God lives inside us by His Spirit, our lives are transformed.
Here's what our lives can look like:
- We can LOVE even those who are difficult to love.
- We find JOY even in the midst of pain.
- We discover PEACE that comes from withIN even when there is chaos withOUT.
- We are PATIENT even when things don't go our way.
- We are able to show KINDNESS to people who aren't always nice.
- Our lives are distinguishable by GOODNESS (in morals and attitude)
- Our FAITHFULNESS means that we keep our word and deliver on our promises.
- We treat the fragile with GENTLENESS.
- And we fly off the handle less because we have SELF-CONTROL.
While this list looks intimidating, these traits are not something we have to produce. We only have to _unleash_ these. They are the traits of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and if we get out of the way, they will grow. If we allow Him to prompt us, move us, inspire us and empower us, then He will let this fruit blossom and grow in us.
In the same chapter, in v.25 Paul says this: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
When we do, then we'll bear fruit!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
