Who wouldn’t want to have each of the characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit? Even writing them down makes us feel like we would love to have each of them in our lives always. In order to help discover whether or not the Fruit of the Spirit has become a part of our spiritual growth, we have built a list of the characteristics that we believe represent the opposites of the Fruit of the Spirit. With that comparison in mind, it is sad that we often find ourselves manifesting the opposite side of those wonderful gifts. I wonder if our busy lives keep us from the peace, joy, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that we could have? I thought maybe I could just take a minute and share them with the opposite along side?
1. Joy (Isn’t that a great feeling?) The opposite of that is fear. (That sure isn’t a great feeling.)
2. Peace (I sure love the sound of that.) The opposite of that is confusion. (Who wants that in their life?)
3. Patience (This is hard.) The opposite of that is anger. (This separates us from the Lord, how sad is that?)
4. Goodness (This should make us smile.) The opposite of that is being insensitive to others. (This should make us sad.)
5. Faithfulness (This helps others trust us.) The opposite of that is hypocrisy. (We say one thing and do another how could anyone have faith in us.)
6. Gentleness (It is wonderful when we see someone being gentle.) The opposite of that is demanding. (When someone is demanding it makes us want to stay far away from that person.)
7. Self-Control (We are making sure that we don’t let ourselves just do whatever we want to.) The opposite of that is egotism. (This is when we do whatever we want no matter who we hurt along the way.)
To manifest one aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit does not mean you automatically acquire all of them. This list helps me to see if the Fruit of the Spirit is manifested in me or not.
