True Character 

Galatians 5:22 ESV

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…”

The Message paraphrase says it this way;

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard – things like affection for others (love), exuberance about life (joy), serenity (peace). We develop a willingness to stick with things (patience), a sense of compassion in the heart (kindness), and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people (goodness). We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments (faithfulness)…”

Paul did not say that these were fruits, he said fruit, singular, why is that? This is not a list of nine separate fruits, but nine characteristics of the (single) fruit of the Spirit. In Christ, we should expect to see all of these characteristics flowing through every Christian, and if they are not all flowing through our lives right now, we should be working to make these characteristics ours.

Paul begins with love, described as selfless love. Joy as an inner confidence and satisfaction. Peace as being restful, it involves assurance, and a spiritual calm. In Jesus, it is a calm that is beyond what words can express.

Patience is a hard thing for so many, but it involves waiting on the Lord’s perfect timing even when our agenda wants to get things done right now. Patience involves controlling our response to circumstances that get under our skin, so to speak.

Kindness is a concept in the Spirit of God where we can be kind to anyone, even those who are challenging and offensive.

Goodness is the characteristic of doing the right thing at the right time. It involves respect and integrity. 

Faithfulness is the ability to keep moving forward with God, even though we may not understand what God is doing sometimes, we remain faithful to Him knowing that He works all things to our good.

Prayer:

Lord, produce in us this morning the fruit that we need that will provide the characteristics that we need to be pleasing to you. Produce in us this fruit that will be an attitude in us that will bring adoration of You, in us. In Your name Lord Jesus, Amen!