Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
“Too often Christians focus on gifts—natural and supernatural—and ignore character. But this bypasses a fundamental principle of the Christian life: gifts and abilities, no matter how magnificent, are either limited or enhanced by character… Gifts are to character as adornments are to a body. Beautiful adornments, such as jewelry and fine clothing, look good on a beautiful body. But when the body has been neglected and has itself become unattractive, you can do almost anything to it—jewel it, perfume it, deck it out in gorgeous clothes—and it still doesn’t look right. So it is with spiritual gifts. They are to be adornments to a well-formed character, which is the foundation for properly displaying them. We are to seek the fruit of the Spirit as a precursor to seeking the gifts of the Spirit. An important characteristic of fruit is that it grows, going through a process of development that culminates into maturity. Fruit doesn’t grow to maturity in one day; it goes through a process of development in which both internal factors (its genetic makeup) and external factors (water, soil, temperature) combine to create maturity.” (Christy Wimber, Everyone Gets to Play: John Wimber’s Writings and Teachings on Life Together in Christ)
Prayer: Lord, may we grow in the fruit of the Spirit as we grow in exercising the Spirit’s gifts. We ask for your kingdom and your will to be done in our churches. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Let’s worship to the song “Mention of your name” by Bethel (click here).
-GK