THE QUALITIES OF A FRUITFUL LIFE (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When a person chooses to believe in Jesus as Savior, they not only gain the gift of salvation, assuring that they will abide in the kingdom of God forever when this earthly life is through. They also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them through living this present earthly life.

Life minus the Spirit is a life lived in sin, a life centered on satisfying the desires of the flesh.

Conversely, a life that is led by the Holy Spirit is a life that is fruitful, a life that is centered on righteousness and holiness. As we saw yesterday in the first message of this three part series, three of the qualities of a fruitful life are love, joy, and peace. Today, we are going to take a close look at three more: forbearance, kindness, and goodness.

1. Forbearance.

Look up the definition for this word that we rarely see used in conversations today and we find this:

Patient self control, restraint, and tolerance.

Now, you probably haven’t heard someone say that it’s important to have forbearance in life but I’m pretty sure you have heard this phrase:

“Bear with me.”

When spoken by a person, they are asking for you to allow them the time to get something right or to deal with a situation they may be going through.

Someone grieving may ask for you to “bear with them” or show forbearance while they go through their grieving process.

And maybe you are waiting to get something from someone and they are behind in delivering. They may ask that you “bear with them” as they try to work through whatever has delayed them so to get you what you need.

Those are a couple of good examples of when forbearance is in play but here’s one that is a little different.

Think of someone who really annoys you and we all have THAT person. Maybe more than one.

Now it’s easy to just allow that person to get under your skin to where you develop severe intolerance but that just wouldn’t be a very forbearing posture, would it? Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we might just continue disliking and even avoiding the source of our aggravation. That would be fleshly behavior.

This is why we need this fruit, born from the influence of the Holy Spirit, because it drives us to a place where we are non-judgmental and more tolerant of everyone, even if they might cause annoyance. Our love and acceptance of all people becomes a reflection of our Lord and how He bears with us as sinners, loving us even though we aggravate and infuriate Him with our sinful behavior.

We are to forbear as the Lord forbears us and the Holy Spirit will produce that fruit within us.

2. Kindness.

Maybe one of the easiest ways to have your forbearance tested is by encountering a rude person. There are plenty of them out there, that’s for sure.

We don’t like to be treated this way, no one does, and yet we all have been guilty of the behavior at some time in our life. It seems to be part of the human condition when the Holy Spirit isn’t involved.

How can we turn from rudeness to kindness?

Through believing in Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus, we find perfection in every human quality we can think of. He never sinned and was without flaw when it came to living in righteousness. He faultlessly loved others and was the epitome of kindness with no greater display that on Calvary’s cross where He bore our sins and died in our place. There has never been a greater act of sacrificial love and kindness in human history and there never will be in the future.

Allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead and others will see the kindness of the Lord within you as you make a difference in the lives of others by showing them your fruitful quality.

3. Goodness.

A lot of people think they are good. In fact, they hold such a high opinion of themselves that they believe that their self-graded “goodness” is enough to earn them a ticket to heaven.

The fact of the matter is that true goodness isn’t generated through anyone’s own ability. Rather, it is a manifestation of the working of the Holy Spirit in one’s life, a fruit of the Spirit.

God is good all the time. Maybe you’ve heard.

In fact, our Lord is the source of every good and perfect gift from above (James 1:17), and that includes instilling the gift of His goodness with us through the work of His Holy Spirit.

Believe in Jesus, receiving the Holy Spirit and submitting to its leading, and you will be good. You can’t help but be and the fruit of your good labors will result in praise and thanksgiving to the God of all goodness, the God who willed you to be good in His name and for His sake.

Ultimately, we honor the Lord when we allow His Spirit to produce fruitful qualities within, qualities like love and joy and peace as well as forbearance, kindness, and goodness.

Tomorrow, we’ll close this series with the last three fruits found in this passage.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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