"MondayReflection"
29th January 2024
'Moira Curry shares'
- as part of the worship service
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The fruit of the Spirit
Much is talked about and often argued about.
If you are my generation, there was a huge amount of arguments about the gifts of the Spirit, when we were growing up, but rather less is made of the fruit of the Spirit.
Maybe we don't all need the same gift and they're given to specific people and often at specific times, we're told not to seek gifts that are not meant for us.
The fruit of the Spirit is something which grows within us, as we seek to become more like Jesus.
To grow our spiritual fruit, we need to have our roots in things like the word of God.
The amount of time we spend in the presence of Jesus, worship, whether private or with others as today, and immersing ourselves in the things which encourage rather than harm us.
The fruit of the Spirit is the natural result of the presence of the Holy Spirit living in someone who believes, God can change our characters and this manifests itself in good fruit.
This is for all of us. You can't say I've got the fruit of love and I haven't got the fruit of gentleness, because that really just wouldn't work.
It may need some work, but we're all works in progress.
I remember there used to be t-shirts which said, God hasn't given up on me yet, and that's true for every one of us now.
God hasn't given up on any of us. We're even, from the youngest to the oldest, we're still works in God's progress.
What are these characteristics that we're working towards?
The Greek words for these fruits help the meaning to expand.
Sometimes it's easy to think of some of these words, and you have in your own mind what they mean, but the Greek words were perhaps not just exactly as that.
Having looked up some of these, this is what I seem to have found out.
Kindness is one that we're all told, - 'we've got to be kind to each other', but it's not just being nice to people.
It's the moral goodness and integrity, required to know the right course of action with the strength to choose it.
Choosing to be kind, maybe when it perhaps goes against our nature to be kind to a particular person or whatever.
Goodness, it's sometimes described as kindness with an extra edge to it.
Fierce kindness, doing the right thing if it's hard, and also if it hurts someone.
Being cruel to be kind.
I think most of those of us with children will understand what that means that sometimes you do have to stop them doing things, which seems hard, but you almost have to be cruel to be kind and it's having that moral integrity to be able to do that.
This is the Spirit's fruit, a result of His work within us.
We can play our part, our attitude can quench His power and influence, or we can embrace His grace and abide in Christ.
We won't always get it right.
We mostly won't get it right, but the gift of grace and forgiveness is available for all of us on a daily basis.
Now that's a very simplistic overview of the fruit of the spirit and I'm sure there are many more.
There are many more discussions that we could have about all these different kinds of fruit, but we're are just going to think about these things and reflect on the fruit which we grow and we show
Just reflect, yourself, on these different kinds of fruit and think maybe where you need to ask for grace to grow more of this fruit.
Closing prayer
Father, we thank you that it's your holy spirit that helps us to grow the fruit,
that we need to live in this world.
We just pray that we will be fully surrendered to you
so that we can have your help in growing,
to be more like our saviour Jesus.
Thank you, Lord, that you sent Him,
and thank you that we can know Him,
and have His strength within us,
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references (Fruitfulness: Galatians 5:22-23) are avaiable on request
Main Street Community Church
is an independent, non-denominational Christian Church, part of the wider family of Christian churches in the 'Frodsham Churches Together'.
We believe that God wants each of us to know Him personally.
We are committed to the life and love found in Jesus and believe Him to be central to all we do.
The church is led by Paul Wintle, assisted by Moira Curry and Andrew Faraday.
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The Revd.Nic.Edwards
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