Daily Scripture:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things. (Complete Jewish Bible).
Reflection Questions:
Mr. Tushman, the wise school principal in the film Wonder, urged staff and students to be “Kinder than is necessary. Because it’s not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.” When the apostle Paul listed some of the key qualities God offers to grow in us, he put kindness squarely at the center of the list. Paul believed that all Christ-followers, not just the naturally kind ones, could receive the fruit of kindness when the Holy Spirit infuses and directs all parts of our life.
- As God’s people, we know we need to depend on the Holy Spirit’s guidance to grow in kindness and other good qualities. Yet the Spirit seldom confronts us with flashing billboards. His guidance usually reaches us in quiet, subtle ways. What steps can you take to keep your spiritual “ears” open to the Spirit’s direction? (For a readable list of helpful spiritual practices, click here.)
- Thoughtfully reflect on the qualities Paul called “the fruit of the Spirit.” Which of them do you most appreciate when others exercise them toward you? Which of them seem to come most naturally to you? Which of them do you struggle with the most? How do you believe growing in the qualities with which you struggle would deepen and enrich your relationships?
Donna Karlen serves in Communications at Church of the Resurrection by creating and managing social media content.
When I was a kid my family used to go to an orchard to pick peaches. For my brothers and me, it was a chance to ride on a hay wagon and climb trees. We would jump off the wagon, race to the trees, scramble up as high as we could and call out to each other throughout the morning. We even managed to pick a few peaches as we created adventures together.
But I also remember it was hot and buggy and the peach fuzz made us itchy. We were allowed to eat as we picked (I may have ingested a pesticide or two, probably a few bugs as well…). Oh the sweet taste of those ripe peaches! But as we ate, the juice ran down our arms, and that made us sticky. So, with the sweat and the bugs and the fuzz and the stickiness – by the end of our picking time, we were pretty messy!
Living as Christians through and into the fruit of the spirit means we’re going to get messy – as in mess-UPs. As sure as God made little green apples, we go bananas at the wrong times or don’t give a fig when we should; we generally convey an attitude of sour grapes when life is the pits, or we just go for the plum assignments… (OK – I’m done with the fruit metaphors.)
So let’s not cherry-pick our spiritual fruit (now I’m done), but instead examine each one.
LOVE – do I daily love just those who are easy, or do I reach out beyond my own circle? (although loving some of them certainly can be challenging as well). Jesus loved the outcast, the unlovable, the lost – how do I live and give that level of love?
JOY – Is my joy dependent on my being happy? If so, it’s not true joy. Gratitude – no matter what – helps cultivate joy. How can I be more grateful in all circumstances?
PEACE – How do I find this even in the midst of struggles? My often fitful sleep habits testify to the work I need to do in seeking the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
PATIENCE –My hottest, buggiest, fuzziest, stickiest one. If you’ve ridden in a car that I’m driving, you know this one needs a LOT of work!
KINDNESS – Following my worst is possibly my best. (My most-used emoji is the hug after all.) And yet there are times when I’m just barely kind, or left it to someone else to do the act of kindness I could have done.
GOODNESS – God is so good. Do I strive to reflect God’s goodness to others or tell them about it? Much like LOVE, I tend to do it when it’s easy.
FAITHFULNESS – My prayer is for God to grow my faith. Recently I’ve begun to take more steps to help God do that – faith-growing is not a spectator sport.
GENTLENESS – Are my words gentle? What about when I disagree with others or resent someone’s words or actions? Being gentle doesn’t mean being weak, but it also doesn’t mean needing to be right all the time.
SELF-CONTROL – Every morning on the way to my desk, I walk through the Resurrection sanctuary and pray while gazing at the stained glass window. Near the end of my prayer, I look at the dove flying just to the right (as you’re looking at the window) of Jesus. I ask for the Holy Spirit to fill me, help me let go of the need to be in control, and fight bad things which may try to control me. A work in progress…
Actually, these all should be works in progress – always. Only one person mastered all nine: Jesus IS the fruit of the spirit, and he is the vine from which we are the branches. Only through Jesus can we produce much fruit (John 15:5). As we pursue living out and into the fruit of the spirit, let's continually race to the trees, scramble as high as we can, call out to each other and create adventures!
But here’s the thing, even if sometimes we are rotten to the core when it comes to growing and showing the fruit of the spirit, we get another chance! And another, and another… The seeds of every fruit of the spirit are planted within us. I’m pretty juiced about that!
OK – since you asked, here’s a fruit joke: Why were the apple and orange all alone? Because the banana split. (Hug emoji!)
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
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Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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