the greenest grass around

Fruits of the Spirit: Part 1

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” Galatians 5:22-23

Fruits of the Spirit are a topic that I generally shy away from. Other than a silly song I learned as a child, I truly only knew what they were and did not pay much attention. Until God began to put them in my heart. 

Truth be told, I did not care much for them because several of them seemed just out of my reach.

Come on, who in the world today can always show peace, joy, kindness, and, Lord have mercy and patience? 

Sadly, I am not a “Fruits of the Spirit” kind of person, and I was fine with that. Even in my Christian life, I brushed it off for a long time as “God made me this way.”  Side note; I’ve always laughed at the shirts I see online that say, “Somewhere between Proverbs 31 and Tupac, there’s me.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am no Cruella De Vil or some other villain, but no one you asked would describe me as someone who possesses the Fruits of the Spirit. Insert dramatic sigh.

That is where Paul comes in and what God laid on my heart one night. Paul could have been described as a “villain” in his time. He spent his waking hours persecuting Christians. Before having his experience with Christ, Paul was known as Saul, and we have met him before in Acts 7,

“At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul… And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”

According to Pamela Palmer a writer for Upheldlife, Saul did not believe the Good News that Jesus had been the long-awaited Messiah and, therefore, viewed Christians as deceitful and a threat to Judaism. Saul’s rejection of Jesus as the Messiah led him to believe that he needed to persecute the followers of Jesus to stop the spread of the Gospel. Saul devoted his days to terrorizing Jesus’ followers with the hope of prohibiting what he believed to be a false message.

Acts continues on to say in Chapter 8, verse 3, “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison”. Later when Paul is telling his story, he states that “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished” in Acts 22:4-5.

And this, my friends, is why God is so good. After having an experience with God, Paul completely did a 180 and changed his tune. The Paul we know went on to become one of the most influential Christians, arguably in history.

Why do I tell you Paul’s back story in the introduction to “Fruits of the Spirit”, you may ask? If God can love, forgive, and use a Thanos-like person, Paul. I know he can love, forgive, and use me for his kingdom.

Paul did not always possess the Fruits of the Spirit either. But after having an encounter with God, he changed. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

I hope you will take a short journey with me and see how you can pursue the Fruits of the Spirit in your life too.