Fruitful faith

“By contrast, the fruit of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  There is no law against such things.”

-- Galatians 5:22-23

Friends of Atonement,

            It’s hard to believe that we’re halfway through the year.  I’ve had a wonderful time travelling with you through Paul’s letter to the Galatians these last six weeks.  Hopefully you have been able to join us through the Sunday sermon series, or the take-home Bible study sheets that have been passed out each week.  If not, the whole study (“Return to Freedom”) is available on our web site. 

            Galatians is amazing for many reasons.  In it, Paul is both inspiring and angry, by turns off-the-wall and on target.  Perhaps the most famous part of Galatians is his list of the “fruit of the spirit” near the end of the letter.  Here he provides a checklist of the traits that grow out of a Spirit-filled life.  When we look at them closely, we see how each part of the Christian life links together and depends on the others.  I hope that you have each one of these delicious fruits growing in the garden of your own faith:

LOVE: unselfish, loyal, self-sacrificing concern for others.  Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, substituting your own name for the words “love” or “it.”  After you’re done rolling on the floor laughing, remember that Jesus did what he did out of love for YOU!

JOY : we are told to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4) and yet it’s so much easier to “complain in the world always.”  Joy flows from love, from opening your heart and discovering God’s gifts all around you.  Finding joy is harder than keeping it, which is why regular worship and re-connecting with God in prayer and Scripture are so important. 

PEACE: the ultimate peace which comes from God is not peace of mind, or even a peace of the heart, but the “peace which passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7), which frees us from being anything other than what we are: God’s beloved children.

PATIENCE: an old saying tells us that patience is a virtue, but it’s also the product of our trust in God.  He is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8), and has been patient with you and I.  Remembering that helps us be patient with others.

KINDNESS: patience makes you free to be kind and thoughtful in your actions towards others.  Reaching out to others, encouraging and complementing them, remembering things that are special about them and to them all become natural in the Spirit-led life.

GENEROSITY: those who are kind and think of others are also naturally generous.  They realize that whatever they do can and does affect others, and that God is inviting us into the adventure of helping others more and more through greater generosity.

FAITHFULNESS: constantly kind and generous people are creating new patterns of relating to those around them, learning that love is greatest when it is most faithful and loyal.  Christ lived faithfully by sharing himself with anyone in need and showing us that being faithful to God is really about being faithful in loving others.

GENTLENESS: God came to meet us in Jesus Christ, knowing that he could not deal with us in all of his immeasurable cosmic power.  So he put that power aside so he could get close to us, relate with us, and care for us.  It takes great strength to be gentle.

SELF-CONTROL:  to use these spiritual fruits well and to be gentle with the ones we love takes self-control… that combination of wisdom and discipline that overcomes fear, anger and other inappropriate urges for the sake of serving God and our neighbors.

            As you can see, these 9 fruits work together to help us grow in love and grace.  We cultivate them in the garden of our faith, and just as fruit trees need good soil and lots of sun, the fruit of the Spirit grow strong when we spend time in the light of God’s Son, Jesus.  If you haven’t already, take time to read through the book of Galatians, especially from 5:13 to the end where Paul is describing life lived in the Spirit of God.  Ask yourself how well these fruits are growing in your life right now, and ask God to help them all grow strong.

            Thanks for growing spiritual fruit, for using them for God and for sharing them with your church family at Atonement.  While you’re out and about in the summer’s heat, I hope you stay hungry for the grace of God.  I don’t know about you, but I could really use a smoothie about now, or maybe some fruit cocktail…?

Peace!