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A Backward Look at the Fruits of the Spirit

If you’ve been a believer for a long time, you’ve probably heard or read about the fruits of the Spirit before… If you haven’t, then today is your lucky day! In a passage that’s pretty familiar to “church people,” Galatians 5 lists some of the character proofs of a Spirit-filled life. Here’s what it says: 

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. -Galatians 5:22-25

I’ve heard this passage a million times, but I stopped to think about it more carefully a couple weeks ago when a podcast I was listening to referenced impatience. The speaker was talking about his struggle with impatience, and in the midst of sharing his thoughts, he pointed out that since patience is a fruit of the Spirit, then impatience, the opposite of patience, is obviously not.

Of course we could get technical…. Impatience isn’t always a bad thing. If you’re impatient on a Sunday morning and end up getting to church early, that’s not terrible. If you’re impatient when it comes to a friend’s recovery from the loss of a loved one, and your impatience motivates you to commit to a weekly coffee date with that person, obviously that’s likely more helpful than harmful. Anything can be argued, but let’s just acknowledge the fact that nothing is black and white. And with that in mind, can we agree to not get technical today? Is that okay? 🙂 

For me, it’s easy to read and list the fruits of the Spirit with the understanding that these attributes and qualities are good and admirable. I want to always try to display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Why not?! But what convicted me as I listened to that podcast was when the opposite character trait was named. Yes, I want to always aim for patience. But if I stop to think about who or what I’m impatient with, I can more clearly see an area of my life that needs godly growth. So let’s play this out with the rest of the fruits…

The fruits of the Spirit ARE: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

The fruits of the Spirit ARE NOT: hatred, despair, impatience, unkindness, wickedness, disloyalty, crudeness and unrestrained indulgence.

Does that step on any of your toes? It definitely steps on mine. It’s nice and easy to think about how I should strive to exhibit self-control. Such a great goal! Yes. But when I hear unrestrained indulgence, I immediately think about how hard it sometimes is to put my phone away at night and get to bed on time. (And getting to bed on time means I will be fully rested and ready to get up early enough in the morning to do some physical and spiritual exercise before heading to work). When I’m falling prey to the opposite of self-control, I’m also falling prey to a fruit of the flesh, which will probably produce a ripple effect in my life that moves me away from God instead of toward Him. 

So what about you? Does it help you to approach one of the fruits of the Spirit from a different perspective? From the opposite angle? Which one of these non-fruits made your heart skip a beat when you read it? Sometimes in order to pursue something godly, you might have to first name and root out something sinful. How might God be convicting and inviting you to embark on that kind of work? 

It might even be helpful to take this “opposite approach” to other Bible verses. For example: 

  • Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” -Matthew 22:37
    • Are you loving God with just part of your heart, soul or mind? …and loving the world with the other part? How might God be calling you to surrender to Him more fully? 
  • He says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” -Psalm 46:10a
    • In what area of your life are you trying to do too much? What step can you take to surrender in faith, be still and watch God work?
  • Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. -1 Thessalonians 5:11
    • How are your words or actions actually tearing someone down instead of building her up? Are you tearing down someone’s reputation as you gossip? Are you tearing down someone’s confidence by being overly critical? How might God be nudging you to change course and build someone up instead?

The words of the Bible are meant to teach, rebuke, correct and train us (2 Timothy 3:16). If you’ve fallen into a lull of sorts and are only reading Scripture from one angle, maybe it’s time to challenge yourself and look at things from the opposite perspective. Be vulnerable and let the Bible rebuke and correct you! Think critically about what you’re reading. Rather than just reading the feel-good words of Galatians 5, stop and consider the more penetrating side of God’s Word. Invite the Holy Spirit to spring into action as you study Scripture, and then be ready to humbly submit to correction.