Today's Word

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Have you ever looked at a blackberry or a raspberry? It is one fruit yet each of the seeds is individually wrapped in a succulent fruit balloon making it look like multiple fruits together. Within Galatians 5, we , I believe, are seeing a spiritual equivalent of one of the above fruits. The words there are “fruit of the Spirit” not “fruitS”. These are multiple characteristics of the same fruit, and we should look at all those characteristics in our own individual lives as a whole and complete a checklist of where our lives show a weakness.

The first 3 characteristics Paul identifies are “love, joy and peace”. These essentially are characteristics which are internal within ourselves. In Romans 5, Paul writes that ‘the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts’. The first evidence of that love being shed abroad is our love towards God. Do we really know and experience our love for God, daily? Does that love flow out indiscriminately towards others? The Apostle John has written some strong sentiments about the evidence of love in our hearts!

Secondly, JOY: Jesus said that He had come “so that our joy might be full”. Joy should never be confused with happiness. Happiness largely depends on happenings, whereas joy is deep-seated and constantly bubbles in the background like a hot spring in nature. It essentially comes from an appreciation of our new relationship with God that the Holy Spirit makes real to us.

Finally PEACE: Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you”. There are two main types of ‘peace’ in spiritual terms. We have peace with God when we accept Jesus as our Saviour; but we also experience the peace of God which essentially stems from that pardon but is always linked with joy. Going back to nature and the hot spring, the peace of God is like the steam which spreads out above it. In the same way, the peace of God keeps our hearts at rest. Oh yes, we will experience the troubles of this world like everyone else, which will give us heartaches, but God’s peace can overflow those heartaches when we bring them to Him in earnest prayer.

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church 

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