patience

Abide: Patience

May 26, 2020 By Joe

Some things are worth waiting for.

The original chicken sandwich and waffle fries after waiting in a long drive thru

Seeing your child’s face after 9 months of pregnancy

Opening presents on Christmas morning

Patience is required to really enjoy the current time even while we wait for something better to come. For over two months now we’ve been separated from one another in the church, worshipping online yet knowing it’s not at all an ideal substitute. Our wait is almost done, and I’m thankful that we’ll get back together soon, for that’s what God wills and what we need.

Yet right now there’s a different kind of patience that is needed and will always be needed no matter what. It’s the patience that is in the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

Why do we need this? Let me illustrate with an… illustration. Recently a friend of mine pastoring a church in another state put up this chart on social media:

As you can see, that pastor is dealing with a frenzy of varied opinions coming at him, or at least he’s speaking with a bit of hyperbole about what is really going on. I can identify with him to a degree and not even as a fellow pastor. Just looking around social media these days I see each of those sentiments in one form or another. I know when we do get back together as a church, we will be dealing with competing ideas that come at us and in some ways will be so different from our ideas as to be offensive. Just because we’ll all be together again doesn’t mean we’ll all be united in how we’re thinking and feeling.

When those opinions ring out, think about the need for patience. Patience is the Spirit-produced quality in the life of the believer that enables him or her to bear difficulties without lashing out at others. What seems impossible to personally cook up is totally possible by the power of the Spirit within each of us who believe. What better power than the Spirit’s power do we need displayed right now? I can’t think of any.

Consider the source of patience in this passage today:

Colossians 1:11-12 – May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

One, we already know patience to bear difficulties without lashing out comes only from God. How often have you snapped at someone when pressure was heavy on you? Likewise when did you refrain from snapping when you otherwise would have? The Lord does that restraining by His Spirit.

But another thing to note: we must pursue this patience by seeking the Lord. Paul prays that the Colossian believers would be patient in trials, endure hard times. Please seek the Lord in prayer, asking Him to strengthen you with all power, according to his glorious might to be patient with other people in the days ahead.

I also can’t escape that patience is connected to joy. You can see that in Paul’s prayer – please strengthen these believers for patience with joy. I recall from this that the Fruit of the Spirit is singular in Galatians 5:22. It’s not that the Spirit has all kinds of fruits that appear. The fact that it’s one fruit means that as we grow in patience we will likewise grow in joy and love and peace, etc.

Friends, before we come back together in the new season of transitioning back to Sunday morning worship, please prepare to be patient with one another.

Think of one another as precious to God, fellow heirs of Christ, qualified by God to share that inheritance.
Think of another’s needs before your own. When someone is particularly passionate about a point, don’t take time to argue how they may be wrong. Seek to understand what drives them to that point. Ask what they’ve been going through. Seek to know them better so you can love them well.

Ultimately we won’t be done with patience anytime soon. We wait for that time in eternity future when we will be with the Lord, when all these hard days are behind us. That is a time, for sure, worth waiting for.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

Counsel for the Heart: Bearing Spiritual Fruit (Gal. 5:22-23)

May 11, 2020 By Joe

Would you like to know a guaranteed way to glorify God?

The Lord told us in John 15:8 –

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

We glorify God by bearing much fruit. Today we go back into Galatians 5:22-23 to examine more closely the fruit of the Spirit. By knowing what type of fruit the Holy Spirit produces we will grow in opportunities to glorify our Father. This is also our memory passage, so remember to meditate and memorize as you read today.

Galatians 5:22–23

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)

Getting to the Heart:

One of the most helpful things we can do with this list of spiritual fruit is to understand what each part of the fruit means, what it replaces, and even what tends to be a counterfeit version of each part. I’ve been helped so much by the Bible study resource Galatians for You by Tim Keller¹, and I’ve created a chart below based on his helpful explanation of the fruit of the Spirit.

Fruit	Definition	Opposite	Counterfeit
Love	Love and care for a person based on their good, not on what they bring to you	Self-protection; self-promotion	Attraction for someone based on what they add to you or how they make you feel
Joy	Happiness and delight in God for Who He is and what He does in the world	Hopelessness; depression	Happiness based on changing circumstances
Peace	Confidence and rest in the sovereign wisdom and control of God	Anxiety and fear	Not caring about something; feeling indifferent
Patience	The ability to stand up under the pressures of life without lashing out in anger toward God and others	Resentment toward God and others	Cynical lack of care
Kindness	Motivation that serves others for their good in a practical way, out of a sense of complete inner security in Christ	Envy; refusal to rejoice in another’s prosperity	Serving others to ultimately manipulate them or prove to God or others our worth.
Goodness	Also means integrity; being one person or the same person wherever you are	Hypocrisy	Speaking your mind and not holding back truth to make yourself feel better or look good
Faithfulness	To be absolutely trustworthy and always true to your word	Being a friend only in good times	Being loving but never willing to confront when needed
Gentleness	Humility, specifically self-forgetfulness, prioritizing others and responding calmly even when they are aggressive	Attitude of superiority or self-absorption	Spirit of inferiority, speaking ill about yourself
Self-control	Ability to endure in hard times by focusing on the important not the urgent	Impulsiveness or recklessness	Willpower to endure difficulties to prove your worth or strength

Sometimes it’s necessary to slow down in our Bible reading and really dig in to specific words to better know the Lord’s message. This passage with this list is a case in point: we need to really understand these aspects of the Spirit’s fruit. It’s all so we can bear the fruit that brings joy and glory to our Father.

Today a group of men came to our home to cut down some trees that we had let grow over the years but that had become a nuisance. It is amazing how much more light, area to grow other things and even just to play in that the removal of those trees provided.

Walking in the Spirit is like that, I think. All of us have some motivating attitudes that are contrary to the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus came to deliver us from that ruling flesh that loves to assert self and sow destructive works. The Holy Spirit is the power to come in and chop those works down at their root level and open up your life to the light and freedom of God (Gal. 5:1).

Let’s talk it over:

Where are you seeing growth this week in the Spirit?
Do you see any opposites in your attitudes and actions?
Do you spot any counterfeits to the Spirit’s fruit?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we believe that it is for freedom that You came to set us free. That freedom is the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that the Spirit produces. This is the fruit we see in You, Lord. We love You because of who You are and how You shared that fruit with people all the time. There was never a time when You were not bearing fruit, and You are worthy of the greatest freedom and joy. Yet You took on our record of fleshly works and received the punishment for reckless, self-absorbed living that defied God and defiled our fellow man. Oh, we love and thank You for paying for those many many sins. But we love and thank You all the more that now You share Your Spirit with us so that we might walk with You and experience what You alone deserve. Help us to glorify our Father by bearing much fruit today. Amen.

Worship in Song:

His Mercy is More

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Galatians for You resource by Tim Keller. Pages 141-142 used for the chart above.

Counsel for the Heart: Walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16)

May 5, 2020 By Joe

Here’s our memory passage for this week: Galatians 5:22-24

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Will you work on that with me this week? I will be writing up a devotional each day from Galatians 5, so you’ll get the background as you memorize the text.

Today I want to explore with you what it means to “walk by the Spirit,” and why that is far superior to the works of the flesh.

Galatians 5:16–18

[16] But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (ESV)

Getting to the Heart

Yesterday I wrote that every Christian is in a daily battle: the fight between the Spirit and the flesh. The more I study out that fight the more I see it is a battle of motivations – motivations to exalt the desires of our old fallen nature that seeks to exalt self and the motivations of the Holy Spirit within us Who desires Jesus Christ to be exalted and for us to know, love and be like Him in all we do.

The focus today is in the command “walk by the Spirit” (16) and the related condition “led by the Spirit” (18). How can we really change in daily life to bring honor and glory to Jesus and show love to those around us? We must walk by the Spirit and be led by the Spirit.

“Walk” implies direction and progress, and it’s the command that we are given. Christians are to put themselves in the direction that the Holy Spirit is going. We may do that by reading God’s Word, meditating on it, memorizing it, singing it, praying it, along with fellowshipping with other believers. The Holy Spirit then takes what we are internalizing about the life and message of Jesus Christ, the very things He has given to us, and leads us along in the circumstances of life where we have a choice: to obey the commands of our flesh or to obey the commands of the Holy Spirit.

We walk as the Spirit leads.

Let me share a personal perspective on this process. I continue to be confronted with the reality that I am not a very patient person. At times I can actually get irritated (read: mad) when someone is taking too long or wasting my time (and isn’t that what is most important: me and my time?!) to get to what they are trying to say. My flesh has on occasion responded with “What’s your point?” which is not a kind thing to respond with when you know the tone in my head that accompanies it! I’ve noticed that when I submit my heart to the Lord Jesus through Bible reading and prayer, humble recognition of Him or of how God has worked in the events of the Old Testament, I enter those occasions of listening in a different way entirely.

As I listen, the Spirit brings to mind: “Why are you tempted to be impatient? Do you recall how the Lord Jesus received all who came to Him, how He journeyed 3 years with hard-headed disciples? How He rebuked those who forbad children to come Him? Listen with His power, and put on His patience.” There’s a change that happens, and I’m being led by the Spirit. My heart is softened again, and I’m blown away by the Lord Jesus and His patience with me! That He would listen to me. That He, the most important One in the whole universe makes time for me and treats me as valuable. How can I not treat others with that same patience and love, for Jesus counts them valuable too! I repent of my impatient anger, seek to listen and love.

My friends, that’s just one recent example of how the Spirit is leading me in the day to day. His ministry as I meditate on Jesus my Lord is changing me in my home and in the way I love my family. Where sometimes things seem like they won’t change, simply turning to Jesus and trusting Him for continued change and grace makes all the difference in the world.

Let’s talk it over:

Can you describe in your own words how to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit?
How have you experienced the lead of the Holy Spirit as you’ve sought to walk in the Spirit?

Prayer:

Lord, the Holy Spirit, thank You for Your presence in our lives. We are no longer lost thanks to You and how You have applied the finished salvation of Jesus to our lives. We are also no longer lost in the day to day battle with sin thanks to You. It’s a mystery to us how You choose to live in us, seeing still all the desires of the flesh that afflict us and that we sometimes give in to. Oh, forgive us, Lord! But we remain confident that in You we are no longer slaves to sin. Help us in the fight today to honor Jesus and love one another. Amen.

Worship in Song:

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

I love this song and its focus on our Lord Jesus. I also really appreciate the life and ministry of Joni Eareckson Tada. I hope you benefit from both in the video above.