Fruit of the Spirit
I felt challenged today to examine the presence of fruit of the Spirit in my life.
Paul says in Galatians 5: 22 – 23 that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
God knows I struggle with all of them! It is easy to let my eye pass over the words, and agree, yes, they all are admirable traits. But wait, I say to myself. If God is within me, then I should be exhibiting these characteristics. They would be the “fruit” – the result of the Spirit’s work within me. And like a tree bears fruit – naturally, effortlessly, abundantly – my life should exhibit these characteristics as well.
Yet I know, if I am honest with myself, that I have struggled (and continue to struggle) with each of these characteristics at different times. How to love, when I am not loved back? How to rejoice when there is overwhelming sorrow? How do I keep peace when I want to retort with anger and bitterness? I have little success I think with the rest as well. To wait when there is little hope or sign of change? To be kind when the instinct is to be distant? To be good? O Lord, who other than you is good? My fickleness in abandoning God when I give way to temptation… Gentleness? I hear my students laugh. And above all – self control? Sigh…. Not even close.
But I take comfort in knowing I am but a ‘Work in Progress’. That in God's eyes I am being made perfect, one day at a time, one trial at a time. I am not yet all that I was created to be. One day, I will be.
Paul says in Galatians 5: 22 – 23 that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
God knows I struggle with all of them! It is easy to let my eye pass over the words, and agree, yes, they all are admirable traits. But wait, I say to myself. If God is within me, then I should be exhibiting these characteristics. They would be the “fruit” – the result of the Spirit’s work within me. And like a tree bears fruit – naturally, effortlessly, abundantly – my life should exhibit these characteristics as well.
Yet I know, if I am honest with myself, that I have struggled (and continue to struggle) with each of these characteristics at different times. How to love, when I am not loved back? How to rejoice when there is overwhelming sorrow? How do I keep peace when I want to retort with anger and bitterness? I have little success I think with the rest as well. To wait when there is little hope or sign of change? To be kind when the instinct is to be distant? To be good? O Lord, who other than you is good? My fickleness in abandoning God when I give way to temptation… Gentleness? I hear my students laugh. And above all – self control? Sigh…. Not even close.
But I take comfort in knowing I am but a ‘Work in Progress’. That in God's eyes I am being made perfect, one day at a time, one trial at a time. I am not yet all that I was created to be. One day, I will be.
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