Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance. Very easy to read these words, but very difficult to practice them in our daily lives.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
Many times we miss the mark when dealing with others. It is one thing to read this scripture, and quite another in applying the principles to our daily lives We have a bad day and because of our stress, we lose patience, and lash out at our spouse, children, co-workers, friends, or whoever is in our line of fire, and when things are calmer we sit in self-recrimination for words said in a moment of frustration unleashing our tongues with impatience and unkindness toward them. Not only are you upset with yourself, but a heart is wounded by cutting and thoughtless words. And compounding the problem, guilt sets in.
Longsuffering seems to be the harder of the nine. But if you will look more closely, you will see “longsuffering” is one “FRUIT”of the Spirit, not “FRUITS of the Spirit. Each are connected one to the other. They can be achieved, but it takes diligence, perseverance, constancy and a lifetime of developing the “fruit of the Spirit.”
Sometimes when troubles and vexations of daily life accumulate, we lash out at others and God. “Why is this happening to me?” “Why did this happen?” “Don’t You see my tears?” “Do You not see how troubled I am?” We all ask these questions, and for the faithful child of God, yes. He knows, yes, He sees, yes, He hears your cries, yes, He understands, and yes He cares. But the only way we are able to develop these Christian traits is through being tested. As a child who struggles to walk, we don’t do the walking for them or help them along. He has to develop his muscles by falling and rising again and again, until he walks. The same principle applies to the Christian and their daily walk with Him.
Love: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the Truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” I Corinthians 13:4-7
Joy: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4
Peace: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Romans 15:13
Longsuffering: “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; . . . .” Ephesians 4:2
Gentleness: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” James 3:17
Goodness: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” James 3:13
Faith: “You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” James 2:24
Meekness: “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” I Peter 3:4
Temperance: “And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness: . . . ” II Peter 1:6
“Live honorably through kindness. If you live honorably, no matter how old you get, you’ll never lose your beauty; it will just gradually shift from your face to your heart. And remember, there is no better exercise for the heart than reaching out and holding the hand of someone in need.” ~ Marc
Eileen Light