As the saying goes, “I’ve been around the block a few times.” Yet I’ve never met people who complained that they have too much “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” in their lives.
In fact these are things that we all crave. We seek friendship, marriage, family, church, and work relationships that offer us the opportunities to experience them. Sadly we are often disappointed. “Best Friends Forever” let us down. Marriages fail. Families bicker. Churches quarrel. Work becomes painful. What is to be done?
It is in our nature to long for these things but it is not in our nature to produce them. They are the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in us through word and sacrament.
It hurts when friendships turn out not to be genuine. It hurts when marriage vows are broken and families fight. It hurts when God’s people are unkind in the Church. It’s depressing to get up every day and go to a workplace where you are unappreciated and belittled.
What can change is you. The people around you are also craving “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” By the work of the Holy Spirit in your life you can and do produce these wonderful fruit. It is not in our human nature to love those who have rejected and hurt us. But that is exactly what Jesus did. Only by the work of the Spirit in our lives can we live this Christ-like life of loving when love isn’t returned; having joy in the midst of sorrow; experiencing peace when the world is crumbling around us; showing patience when people are frustrating; being kind in a cruel world; displaying goodness in a society where evil and violence are glorified; being faithful when your friends are faithless; exhibiting gentleness when you’re getting hammered by the people around you; and having patience to let God work in your life and the lives of others.
Prayer: O Holy Spirit, grant that my life may produce the fruit that comes from Your gracious work. Amen.
Stained glass window at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, depicting the Fruit of the Holy Spirit along with role models representing them, i.e. the Good Shepherd representing love, an angel holding a scroll of Gloria in excelsis Deo representing joy and peace, Job representing longsuffering, Jonathan faith, Ruth gentleness and goodness, Moses meekness, and John the Baptist temperance. Executed by Hardman & Co. in the 1870s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dublin_Christ_Church_Cathedral_Passage_to_Synod_Hall_Window_Fruit_of_the_Spirit_2012_09_26.jpg
God’s richest blessings in Christ,
Pastor Philip Quardokus
No comments:
Post a Comment