An apple a day...
The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. Galatians 5 : 22 - 25 (GNB) |
I'm sure that you have heard the common advice that "you should eat 5 portions of fruit or veg a day in order to be fit and healthy". We are given this advice because these portions of fruit and vegetables provide us with all of the vitamins and goodness that is needed to support our physical health.
God's spirit is similar to this, a regular portion can keep your soul, your inner-you healthy and it shows through your personality. When you trust God and build a relationship with him you will also get the health benefits that it can offer to your inner-you. As we see in the passage there are nine key areas that God's spirit can help develop inside us which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.
Like most things it takes time for the spirit to develop these 'fruits' within you. You will not suddenly become a humble, faithful self-control master over night! However these will flourish over time as you allow God's spirit to work in subtle ways within you.
The other by-product of this is that at the same time the less desirable parts of your character, whatever they may be will become smaller and less prominent the more God's spirit works within you. So it is a double win! He enhances the good within you while also taming the rest!
This of course takes work and commitment, but with all harvests the best fruit comes to those who have put in the effort to help it grow. So put the effort into developing your relationship with God and soon you will be pleasantly surprised with the fruits of your labour. Have a great week.
This week's song is My Highest Hope by Darlene Zschech. |
Header image by: olle svensson via Flickr