Before we began our study of the works of the flesh and growing in the fruit of the Spirit, we were studying what it means to possess our Promised Land. I want to return to this with a brief reminder of what we covered there so we can begin again where we left off.

From Death to Life

We began by addressing how the recent earthquakes and tsunamis were taxing the whole world’s relief efforts, and how we could expect these kinds of disasters to not only continue, but increase. Of course, that was before...

It is interesting that the last aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “self-control” (Galatians 5:23). Many Christians, in seeking to become submitted to the Holy Spirit or to eschew glory for anything that is accomplished through them spiritually, often say such things as: “That was not me—that was the Lord.” This may be a noble attempt to not take glory for things accomplished by the Lord, but it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Spirit actually does His work. Even worse, this often comes across to others as something between supreme arrogance and ridiculous.

I...

The next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “gentleness” (Galatians 5:23). This is defined as being “mild, kind,” or “not being rough, violent, harsh, or severe.” Some people may be born with a natural gentle demeanor, but the fruit of the Spirit that is gentleness is to conduct yourself with sensitivity and consideration for others.

Gentleness is a characteristic that enables others to feel that they can get close to you and be safe. If you are wondering why it seems that people do not want to be close to...

The next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22). As we have discussed, the characteristics of the Spirit are called “fruit” because it must be cultivated and grown. It takes faithfulness, which is demonstrated by endurance, for any of the fruit to be grown. But how is faithfulness grown? This is important for us to understand if we are going to bear any fruit.

Fruit grows on trees, not small plants. A small plant may sprout and produce vegetables in a single...

The next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “goodness” (Galatians 5:23). The Greek word that is translated for “goodness” is agathosune, which is defined as “virtue” or “beneficence.” This is still a very broad concept that I would like to narrow down a bit so we can practically apply it. However, we do need to keep in mind that it is a broad and expansive characteristic that every Christian should have.

We often think of goodness as the opposite of being evil, which has...