Have you ever wondered why we all just can’t get along? I know I have. I think of a peaceful state where everyone does exactly what they are suppose to, are accountable, fair, nonjudgmental, reliable, peace loving, kind, honest and just want to do right. I am always shocked when someone exhibits any other kind of behavior; especially when it is me. I am so much better than what I use to be, thank God. I have never had problems with honesty (except for an occasional little white lie) or being judgmental or unfair or with trying to do the right thing. But, I have from time to time been unkind, irritable, not accountable or unreliable. I have to be honest, I didn’t necessary want to be that way but I just allowed circumstances or my own actions or reactions get the best of me. Let me just stop right now and say I’m sorry and I mean that with all sincerity. So, just stop now and apologize, even if you think that you’ve never ever done any of those things, just say I’m sorry. Because I am sure you have even if you are unaware of it. It would be nice if we were already angels wouldn’t it? Now, that we are past that we can move forward. Our behavior is so important in our spiritual growth and development. We have to get to the point where we behave in a God like manner no matter what the circumstance is or who that one person who seems to get under our skin the most is. Ultimately we must realize that it is not a person, a circumstance or incident working against us, it is the flesh. When we maintain our composure and exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit that God has commanded us to exhibit we are overcoming our sinful nature. Not only that we are also overcoming our feelings, our emotions and our flesh. When we master that then we will begin to exercise godly character. In order to exhibit Godly character we must know, study and meditate on the Fruit of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit is the nine biblical attributes as Christians we need in order to behave like mature believers. Take note that the Fruit of the Spirit is not plural but singular and collective. They sum up the true character of a Christian. The nine attributes are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. These are not individual fruits left up to us to pick and choose the one or two we feel like exhibiting or that mesh well with our personalities. They are nine-fold and are what all Christians should be producing daily. Below are some biblical principles that will bring all the attributes together. If we study and meditate on these biblical principles as the nine-fold fruit collectively we will begin to understand how they all relate to one another and begin to build the Godly character we are called by God to demonstrate.

Love – “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Through Jesus Christ, our greatest goal is to do all things in love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Joy — “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Be Happy {in your faith} and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always) 1 Thessalonians 5:16.

Peace — When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7). Peace I leave with you; My {own} peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. {Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled} (John 14:27).

Longsuffering — We are “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:11). “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

Gentleness — Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2). A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. (Proverbs 15:1)

Goodness — “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9). And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another (Romans 15:14).

Faith — For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (James 2:17)

Meekness — A meek and quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God (1 Peter 3: 4). “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

Temperance — And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love (2 Peter 1:5-6)

When we see all the Fruit of the Spirit together and how they relate to one another we should realize that they are nine-fold and relate to each other collectively. These biblical principles tell us what a Christian’s character should be in totality and what should exude brightly from a Christian’s life. Meditate on the Fruits of the Spirit often and collectively. You can’t have one fruit without the others! Just like you can’t pick and choose what biblical principles you will obey and which ones you will loosely interpret. Everything about God is one for all!

Blessings,
Rhonda

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009 at 2:30 pm and is filed under EC Chatter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.