TEXT: Galatians 5: 22-24
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. So this is really nothing more than a continuation of my first blog entitled "The Works of the Flesh".
Paul leads off by giving us a stark contrast of what a persons lifestyle is like that walks being led by the Spirit of God as opposed to the one being led by his/her own fleshly desires and lusts (which is of Satan).
My Pastor has spoke on this account a few times and I have taught on this also but in the church it seems that we forget this passage so easily yet we never seem to forget to correct or rebuke or judge others (these are all Biblical things until they are done in the flesh and then they cease to be Godly and edifying.).
Paul was very systematic in what he had to say and knowing this it is logical to assume that he wrote the fruit of the Spirit in this order for a reason and not by random happenstance.
One leads to the other and the other to the next and so on and so forth. So let us start from the first one.
Love (Greek - agape) - affection, benevolence (the love of mankind accompanied with the desire to promote their happiness), charity
There is a reason that Paul named love first. Without this one then the rest are only outward lip-service and hypocrisy
Joy (Greek - chara) - cheerfulness, calm delight
Eventually, if you learn to love just enough you will not be able to help but to be joyful. True love will bring joy.
Peace (Greek - eirēnē) - to be at one, quietness, rest
A person that grows in love and joy enough will desire to be at peace with all men and will go out of their way to seek such peace. (Romans 14:19, Hebrews 12:14)
Longsuffering (Greek - makrothumia) - forbearance, fortitude, patience
I just can't see a truly patient person that hasn't first learned peace.
Goodness (Greek - chrēstotēs) - usefulness (if it isn't useful it isn't any GOOD), excellence, kindness
If a person that is has true patience isn't useful in the church then I don't know what is. You are either useful or worthless. No one was called to be a bench warmer. You can't or shouldn't be in any leadership position in the church if you are not useful.
Faith (Greek - pistis) - faithfulness, reliance, constancy
A vehicle is useful (goodness) but is it reliable? The junk car is reliable (it never leaves the yard) but is it useful. Are you faithful? Can God, your pastor, the church, the sinner, the job count on you to be there?
Meekness (Greek - praotēs) - gentleness, humility
A person that grows in true faithfulness in all things will become extremely meek. Christ was faithful even to the death of the cross and He described himself as being meek and lowly. Let us take a lesson from our dear Saviour.
Temperance (Greek - egkrateia) - self control
This will be a natural by product of growing in all the rest. Knee jerk reactions will not be a problem. You will have learned to act instead of react. You will have learned when to open your mouth and when it is best kept shut. You will have learned when to fight and when to stand still. You will have learned how to bring you body under subjection. You say you have self control; I ask you how much you fast and how often you pray and for how long. I feel just from my own personal experience and form what I've seen within the walls of the church that this one is the most lacking of all.
If you wish to know how much a Christian has grown in their spiritual walk then start listing what fruits are evident in that persons life. When you get to one that you know that said person doesn't have just start working your way backwards until you find the last one that you know they have and that is where they need to grow some more in.
To do this they will need to grow more in the previous ones going all the way back to agape, for from this one will all the others flourish.
Let us therefore be fruitful and grow in the Lord.
Love and Blessings,
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