Enlarging Our Perspective on the Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22 (NKJV)
²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, ²³ [a]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

A well-known minister of the gospel recently gave a perspective adding fresh revelation to the understanding of the Fruit of the Spirit. With fresh perspective comes an opportunity to grow in our knowledge of the Lord and increase our experience with Christ.

What we tend to focus on when looking at the Fruit of the Spirit is the fact that the Fruit represents who God is; the Fruit of the Spirit describes His very character. The Fruit represents the attributes He brings to a relationship with His children; and, they are the attributes He desires to see work through His children to reach others. As believers, this is certainly a major part of understanding the process of sanctification in our lives. The more we grow in the Fruit of the Spirit the more we become like our heavenly Father.

What if, in addition to becoming more Christ-like as we develop the Fruit of the Spirit, we began to view the Fruit as tools that the Lord has provided for us to help us to overcome every challenge we face in this life? One dictionary definition of a tool is “a device used to carry out a particular function.” Using a serious health challenge as an example, let’s consider how the Fruit of the Spirit become tools that address particular areas needful to position ourselves to receive the victory Jesus died to give us:

Love… is the most important tool. Without a revelation of God’s love for us it will be hard to look past the doctor’s negative report. Many believer’s focus on their love for God and often feel like they just don’t love God enough. Until we understand that it is God’s love for us and not our love for Him (I John 4:10) that is the source of our healing, our focus will always be drawn to how far we fall short.

Joy… as a tool is valuable because as Nehemiah 8:10 states, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” As we rejoice, the Fruit of Joy strengthens our spirit allowing us to look beyond the bad report we have been given. Joy is not an emotional high; it is a force within that allows us to live above our circumstances.

Peace… in Hebrew is the word “shalom” which means, “nothing missing, nothing broken.” When we walk in the revelation that Jesus died to give us a “nothing missing, nothing broken” life, we can enter into God’s Rest. It is there we find strength to stand until the challenge has passed.

Long-suffering or patience… is not simply putting up with something until it is gone. It is maintaining a consistent attitude that allows us to wait for as long as it takes to see victory manifested. This is an especially helpful tool considering that there are very few “microwave” manifestations when going through a difficult battle.

Kindness, goodness, gentleness… can be seen as tools that allow us to act with graciousness even when we don’t feel like it. Anytime we are yielding to the Fruit, it is positioning us for advancement toward our desired outcome.

Faithfulness… as a tool is like Love. It is knowing that it is God’s faithfulness to us, not our faithfulness to Him that brings the manifestation of the promise we are standing on.

Self-Control… rounds out the “tools” of the Fruit of the Spirit. Self-control places us in charge of our emotions. No matter how negative the report, the tool of Self-Control will steady our mind, will, and emotions.

The Fruit of the Spirit is the DNA of a born-again believer. It not only makes us who we are, but it becomes the very tools with which we overcome the challenges life brings. It is a perfect example of the “GRACE upon GRACE,” we find in the fullness of Jesus (John 1:16)!

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