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Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (II Corinthians 1:3-4)

 

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about comforting others as a result of having been comforted by God.. We need to be reminded regularly that God loves us, takes joy in us, is at peace with us, is forebearing/patient kind, good, faithful and gentle with us and self-controlled with us. But as with so many things, these things have more than one purpose. God doesn’t produce this fruit in our lives in a vacuum. They benefit us, of course, but they are meant to overflow into the lives of others.

God loves us because that’s what He’s like. He loves us for our benefit, but also so that we can love others better. He enjoys us and gives us joy so that we may have joy, but also so we can enjoy and give joy to others. The list continues. It’s never just about us. It’s not even just about God and us. It’s always about God, and us, and others.

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