"Against such things, there is no law."

Sound familiar? In Galatians 5:23, Paul says that after listing the fruit of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” One of our favorite moments in scripture is when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment was. There was a laundry list of them in Levitical Law and Jesus summarizes them into one simple response. Mark‬ ‭12:29-31‬ ‭says ““The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”” Not to elevate myself to Jesus, but I believe we can do a similar summary with the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of life with the Spirit is experiencing a quality home, to build real community, and to trust your God. Here me out..

There are nine “fruits” so you could do this a handful of ways, but I chose three groups of three. The first three are love, joy, peace and if that can’t be summarized by our understanding of a quality home then puddleglum. We love because He first loved us and the primary greenhouse for such love is that of the family. A quality home models many things, but frequently we see a husband and wife’s devotion for one another, parents living in ways they never knew existed, or a child’s admiration of a father and mother. But not just love, the joy and peace that comes from being fully known and fully loved in that atmosphere is equally gratifying. We must note the obvious infiltration of sin into any and all families, but nevertheless, a quality home is a beautiful experience of something Bigger.

The next three are patience, kindness, and goodness. Community comes to mind, and I don’t just mean superficial buddies you grab cocktails with, I mean real community that is in the trenches with you. They know the real you, not the one you try to hide with make-up or bravado. They’re patient with you, always kind,  and always inviting you into life as it was meant to be lived (John 10:10).

Lastly, and certainly not least, is faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Micah 6:8 comes to mind; “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” “To act justly” can be misconstrued to an array of self-righteous agendas, but maybe the most just thing we can do as Holy Spirit indwelled sinners is to have self-control. ..I’m chewing on that one as I write it. In other words, the correct behavior or treatment for ourselves is to not allow any contradictions to holiness take place. That’s quite a tall order. ”To love mercy” is by definition to be gentle, as He was with you and I. He lets us know truth indeed, never shying away from what’s right, but the tact in which he delivers the Truth is to be sought after in itself. And then the best one remains- to walk humbly with your God ..faithfully. We could swing it full circle to the text in Mark 12 where Jesus summarizes the entire law; “the first is to love God,” and if you do that well, if you walk humbly with Him, you will naturally love people the same. These things will essentially all become one in the same.

We’ve all heard the lecture from that one friend, “it’s not “fruits” of the Spirit, it’s “Fruit.”” ..because an encounter with Christ produces a new life (singular) with several (all of these) characteristics.

You’re desired, yearned for, coveted by your creator. He wants you to not only know Him, but he wants you to envelop and cultivate His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He wants you to experience a quality home-life, to build real Godly community, and to faithfully trust your God. He wants you to be free in His grace, because against such things there is no law.