Self-Control: How Jesus Ruled Himself for Our Sake

Many Christians practice self-control during the season of Lent, fasting from favorite foods to draw closer to Jesus. When I was nine years old, I decided to give up ice cream sandwiches for Lent, which I considered a great sacrifice…

Gentleness: Antidote for an Angry World

Anger is the new pandemic, spreading by contact much like the virus we’ve been fighting for the past year. It is a mutation of our early response to COVID19, which began as fear, sweetened by early steps of neighborliness. But as…

Faithfulness: A Promise that Leads to Joy

Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash What does faithfulness look like? Faithfulness--not just to a job or a cause--but to the people around you? Where does it start and how does it end? When we were kids we promised to be best friends forever,…

Goodness: The Fruit With No Strings Attached

  Goodness is a strong word; good is too, though shorter and simpler. We toss it around without thinking, barely noticing how we use it or where it lands. For example, the waitress returns to your table with are question, “Are…

Kindness: The Fruit We Need to Taste

  Tell me. What is kindness? And you’re not allowed to use the word “kind” in the definition. That sounds like the kind of trick question your fourth grade teacher used to ask, doesn’t it? That’s because I want to…

Patience: The Gift We Politely Refuse

  Patience? No thank you. But pass me some of that peace, please, and why don’t you top it with a few sprinkles of joy. If the fruit of the Spirit were being served at a dinner party, patience might be the dish with the most…

Passing His Peace: The Fruit of the Spirit

Joy Wins: The Powerful Fruit of the Spirit

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But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash   Love is the first, best, and greatest of the Spirit's fruit. Why? Because Paul puts it first, of course. Also because John tells us twice in his letter that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 18). John's…
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Free To Bear Fruit (And Give It Away)

Photo by averie woodard on Unsplash   How free do you feel today? Between the 10 month pandemic, the 10+ executive orders from President Biden's first day, and all the other top 10's, I honestly feel more constrained than free. Today…