"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."

Even to the misguided Galatians the apostle Paul can write that these virtues will display themselves through the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers.

My question this week is "do we strive together for these traits, expect to see them, and rejoice when they seen in our congregational life?

I ask the question because so often we think that the communication of information is what happens in church. But we should expect that as we know God better His Spirit's transforming work will be seen.

Why We Don't?

I wonder whether we don't rejoice in the progress of our brother sand sisters in these virtues because we are worried that they will become conceited if attention is drawn to them, or that they will change for the wrong motives, or it may offend other people.

It seems to me that if the Spirit is doing what Paul claims He is doing, then conceit and wrong motives will not be a problem, as praise belongs to the Lord and not the individual. And offending other people is less of a worry than neglecting to praise God for the magnificent work he is doing in someone's life.

Could it be that we don't bother looking to see these virtues develop because we are concerned with other things.

Surely not, as here we have a list of some of the great things God is doing.

Could it be even worse and we don't really value these virtues as much as we should?

May it be that we don't know each other well enough to be able to observe this growth?

A Suggestion

Here is a suggestion to help us and our congregations.

As a congregational task, have everyone write out the fruit of the Spirit. Over the next week have them put into their own words a description of each of the fruit. The next week have them explore what will help and what hinders growth in each of the fruit. Finally, have then look for the fruit in others, and praise God when they see it.