Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Oftentimes, we serve God, and others, out of a feeling of obligation, and not out of desire. When we serve in this manner, it often comes through in our attitude, and the way we treat others. We end up coming across like disgruntled Christians who are miserable, but trying to tell others how great Christianity has been since we accepted Jesus as Savior. It is one thing to love others, it is another to love others with the right attitude. If we are going to love others the way Jesus loves us, then we need to be patient with them. We need to show others that we are giving them room to grow in their own walk with Jesus. Being patient with others means being slow to get angry or impatient with them when they do not perform to, or live up to, our standard or expectations. How often do we fall short of God's standard and expectations? It means not being mean-spirited, but kind. It means treating them with the same kindness we treat those who are near and dear to us, so that they never have to fear that we will do them harm. What I am saying is that we should not be known as people who are quick to take vengeance against others for personal offenses. In Christ, we should treat others with the same goodness God treats us with. Jesus told us that God does good to both the just and the unjust. We are called to love even our enemies. To treat others with goodness means to be willing to do good and be a blessing to others, even if they have offended us. We are not to withhold doing good to others based on our personal opinions, or biases. We need to do good to others, simply because we know that God loves them and died for them also. The most challenging time for us to do all this is when we, ourselves, are facing challenging circumstances. Those are often the times when we become impatient, unkind, and do not feel up to doing good to others, because we are to busy hosting a pity party for ourselves. It is during those times, when we are squeezed spiritually, that we find out how much freedom we are giving the Spirit to produce His Fruit in our lives.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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