Book Journal - Quo Vadis

Not long after I arrived at Eden, one of the Chaplains gave me the book “Quo Vadis” by Henryk Sienkiewicz.  I had my wife do a little bit of research on the book for me.  The author wrote it in the late 1800’s.  He wrote it in Polish and this edition was translated into English in 1992.

Just like “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and “Cilka’s Journey”, this book is a fictional story that follows historical characters and events.

Gaius Petronius is a close advisor to Caesar Nero, the Emperor of Rome.  His nephew is a war hero named Marcus Vinitius, who falls for a young woman called Ligia. Ligia is the daughter of a Ligian king.  She was taken by the Romans as a hostage in order to keep the Ligians from being a problem for Rome.

A man named Ursus had been her bodyguard since she was a baby, and he was still her servant.  He had almost superhuman strength, which comes in handy when you are the bodyguard for a beautiful princess.

She has been raised by two Roman citizens named Aulus Plautius and his wife Pomponio Graecha.  Aulus was also a military hero and he and his wife lived very comfortably.  Pomponio is a Christian woman but Aulus is a pagan, although he allowed Christian influences in his home so Ligia was also a Christian.

When Vinitius goes to his uncle for advice on how to convince Aulus to give Ligia to him for his wife, Patronius has an idea.  He convinces Nero to take her into his palace and then give her to Vinitius instead of trying to convince Aulus to give her up.

Nero’s current wife, Poppaea Sabina, is an evil and jealous woman.  As soon as she spots Ligia, she becomes jealous of her beauty and fears that Nero will replace her with Ligia, so she begins to plot against her.

Nero only plans to follow through with giving Ligia to Viritius though, but not until after he throws a party filled with wickedness.  Once Ligia realizes what she is about to be given into, she decides that she will either escape or die trying.  That’s where this story turns into an adventure full of deceit, murder, and God’s love.

This is an amazing story that’s put right into the middle of a horrible part of human history (A.D 62).  Nero is famous for his wickedness.  He had his brother, mother, two wives, and most of his advisors murdered.  He is also responsible for the murder of thousands of Christian men, women, and children in the Colosseum.

This is a hard book to read.  The author did an amazing job of investigating the events and characters surrounding this story.  The way that the Christians were murdered was brutal.  Here is a little piece of what happened as told in this book:

“When the sound of trumpets was heard in various parts of the garden, as a sign that the spectacle was to begin, each slave put his torch to the foot of the pillar. The straw, hidden under the flowers and steeped in pitch, burned at once with a bright flame which increased every instant, consuming the ivy and rising to embrace the feet of the victims.  The spectators looked on in silence but the victims on the pillars gave out groans and cries of pain which resounded throughout the gardens.

Some of the victims, however, raising their voices to the starry sky, began to sing, praising Christ.  People listened and their hearts were filled with terror, especially upon hearing the fearful cries of children (some so young they can barely walk) and seeing the agonized squirming on the pillars.  It did not take long for the flames to engulf them.”

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading.  It is beautifully written by someone who put years of research and work into it long before airplanes and Google.

The title of the book comes from the end of the story when the Apostle Peter is fleeing Rome with a friend named Nazarius.  

Peter sees Jesus walking toward the city and bows before Him, asking him “Quo Vadis?” which means “where are you going?”.  Jesus replies that he is headed to Rome to be crucified again because Peter is fleeing the people whom Jesus commanded him to lead.

As Peter gets back up and heads back toward the city, Nararius asks him “Quo Vadis?”, to which he replied, “to Rome”.

Book Journal - Harry Potter

I have started reading “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling.  My twelve-year-old daughter is reading through the series so I thought I would check it out too.

The author does a great job of telling a story.  If you’re like me and have not ever read any of the Harry Potter series, I’ll tell you a little bit about it.

Harry Potter is orphaned when Voldemort, who is a powerful wizard who went bad, kills Harry’s parents, and tries to kill him too.  Even though Harry is just a baby, Voldemort is not able to kill him.  Instead, Voldemort is somehow defeated, although some suspect that he did not actually die.  The attack left Potter with a lightening bolt scar and also left him without parents.

The book begins with Harry being brought to the doorstep of his mom’s sister’s house by Hagrid.  He is now going to be raised by his aunt and uncle who are Muggles (normal people).  They already have a son who is the same age as Harry.  This family - the Dursleys - had disowned the Potters because they were strange.  So, Harry is treated very poorly by them.

On Harry’s 12th birthday, Hagrid shows back up to prepare him to go to Hogwarts which is the best wizard school in the world.  He finds that Harry has been mistreated and lied to about who his parents were and how they died.

Harry and Hagrid spend the next day purchasing everything that he needs for his first year at school and Hagrid does his best to shine a light on who Harry really is. 

As Harry starts his first year at the school, he struggles to fully understand who he is and how he fits in.  But through his newly found friends, Ron and Hermoine, Harry quickly learns and excels at Hogwarts and lives up to the reputation that he earned as a baby. 

Of course, evil is very alive and well within the students and staff at Hogwarts.  It’s up to Harry and his friends to pass their classes while fighting against unseen forces that threaten everyone at Hogwarts.

I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the whole series. 

 

 

Book Two “HarryPotter and the Chamber of Secrets”

This book starts with Harry being back at the Dursley’s house with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and his spoiled cousin Dudley.

Just as they had done before his first year at Hogwarts, the Dursleys treat Harry with contempt.  Only now, they know that he is able to perform magic and so they fear him.  That is until Vernon finds out that Harry is not allowed to do any magic outside of the school.

Harry finds a creature in his room named Dobby who is a house elf.  Dobby refuses to give any details, but he warns Harry that there is foul play planned for Hogwarts this school year.  Of course, Harry ignores the warning and is able to make the trip to school despite Dobby’s attempts to stop him.

As the school year moves forward, a cat – which is hated by the entire student body – is discovered by Harry and his friends.  The cat is assumed dead, but soon they discover that it’s not dead but frozen.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that the evil creature behind this is in the Chamber of Secrets and is controlled by someone at Hogwarts.  Soon, one of Harry’s best friends falls victim to the creature and anyone could be next.

Harry and company have to find out who and what are behind the attacks before anyone is killed and Hogwarts is shut down for good. 

This book, and the series, is written with teenagers and young adults in mind but these stories are a lot of fun to read for adults too.

After reading this book, my favorite characters are Ron’s family the Weasleys.  His two older twin brothers are a lot of fun, and his younger sister joins them as a first-year student.  She becomes an integral part of the story in this book and has become one of my favorite characters.

I cheated and watched the 5th movie the other day.  I wanted to see how the series progressed and it definitely develops into an exciting adventure.  I won’t watch any more so that I don’t ruin anything else for myself.  My daughter got upset with me for watching it, lol.   

Book Journal - Cilka's Journey

The Chaplain here told me about “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” which I obtained and then donated to the Chaplain after I had read it so that she could share it with others.  In my book review of it, I mentioned the book “Cilka’s Journey” which is the story of one of the real-life characters from that book.

Cilka was forced to become the mistress of a high ranking Nazi officer at the age of 16 and was raped by other Nazi officers.  She was put in charge of the women’s dorm at Auschwitz where the women would go just before they were taken to their death. 

When the Russians came in, they found out what she did in order to survive.  Instead of letting her go home after two years in a German concentration camp, they convicted her of sleeping with the enemy and sentenced her to fifteen years in a labor camp in one of the coldest spots in the world. 

Much of the story has been made up, but it follows the testimony that author Heather Morris was able to uncover in her years of research.

Lale, the tattooist of Auschwitz, is the one who told her about Cilka, calling her the bravest person that he had ever met. 

“Cilka’s Journey” did not replace “The Hiding Place” as my all-time favorite book, but it’s a close second.  It’s amazing to find out what this tiny, fierce young woman did in the face of death in order to survive with her sole purpose of providing for others.  

Please read “The Tattooist” and “Cilka’s Journey”!!

 

Book Journal - Girly Books

It’s been a minute since I’ve talked about the books that I have been reading.  I get busy with everyday things and I forget about doing it!  I finished two books recently. 

The first book is called “Born in Ice”, by Nora Roberts.  It was given to me by one of my neighbors.  He told me that it’s a “girly” book but that someone else had told him that it was good.  I usually don’t like that genre of books, but I figured what the heck, I’ve got the time.

I was pleasantly surprised by it right away.  It’s the story of an American author who is very well known for writing suspenseful murder mysteries.  He has planned a trip to Ireland to write his next novel.

He books a small Bed and Breakfast, which is run by a beautiful Irish woman.  She is a devout Catholic and is very loyal to her family, even as she learns of some dark secrets about her parents.

This story tells of how these two people who have come from two completely different worlds fall in love.  But it’s destined to fall apart.  Either their broken pasts or his inability to commit will spell an end to their relationship.

It’s a pretty cool book.  I had my wife get it to see what she thought about it and she said that she enjoyed it, too.  She also found out that it’s the second book in a three-book series.  One of these days I’ll find the other two and read them.

 

After my wife had read “Born in Ice”, she sent me the Nicholas Sparks book that she had just finished called “Every Breath”.

This book was a lot like the previous one.  A man from South Africa makes a trip to South Carolina to meet his biological father who is dying.  He stays at his father’s beach house and he is waiting there for a few days for his father to come meet him.  Staying next door is a beautiful woman who is spending some time in her family’s beach house before she has to sell it.

Their chance meeting sparks feelings that neither one realized they could have.  But this is a Nicholas Sparks book, so it’s not a feel-good book.  Read it to find out what happens to the woman when her estranged boyfriend of nine years shows up and has an important question for her.

This book had a personal connection for me because it parallels the relationship that I have with my wife.  I can’t tell you how it’s similar to us because it would spoil some of it for you 😊.

Holidays in Prison

I have had a couple of people either write or ask me over the phone what it’s like in here during the holidays.

First of all, I wouldn’t really even notice the holidays much if it weren’t for the TV.  We do not decorate really at all.  I personally do not view this as my home and to be honest, decorations would depress me more.

Thanksgiving and Christmas is very hard in here.  I only want to be with my wife and kids, especially during this time, so any reminder of being separated is painful and I try to minimize that.

I spent Christmas of 2019 locked up in Mansfield.  I had an inmate there give me a radio and the first Christmas song that I heard was “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”….so I have not listened to Christmas music since then and I’m OK with that.

Overall, I listen to very little music.  I’ll listen to the local pop station while I’m working out or doing my art projects.  I would listen to Christian music but there aren’t any good stations here.  I mostly just listen to sports radio.  Although today I went into the TV room to update my commissary order and someone had the CMT station on.  Right as I walked in, a song called “Little Miss” by Sugarland came on.  It immediately reminded me of my wife, and it gave me some mixed feelings of love and hurt.  Music had a big place in my life, so it reminds me a lot about the life that I gave up.  The same goes for doing traditional stuff for the holidays.

This doesn’t mean that we do not celebrate the holidays or find joy during this time of year.  In fact, I’ve not ever been more thankful for God’s blessings and I have never been closer to my Savior than I am right now.  There are very few distractions in here that take my attention away from God.

It’s not horrible in here right now.  We will find our own way of celebrating that allows us some sort of joy, it just won’t be what everyone out there would expect, but that’s OK.

Someday…..someday, I’ll celebrate with my family again though.

The Gospel of John says that "the light (Jesus) came into the darkness of the world, and the darkness will never put the light out" (1:5). 

Prisons can be dark places, but prison life, as dark as it can sometimes be, can never put out God's light that comes in Jesus Christ. This light shines wherever you are, even in the darkest prison.

Isaiah 54:10

We often long to return to that time where life felt normal, before all these personal and worldly changes.

“Normal” may feel so unachievable right now, no matter how much we want it to go back to it.  But even though so much has changed around the world and in our lives, God has not changed.

Isaiah 54:10 says, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”

We don’t have to achieve normality to feel safe.  The mountains in our lives may have moved.  The hills may have disappeared.  But God’s faithful love for us has remained, and it always will.

Fruit of the Spirit - Wrapping it up

In wrapping up these thoughts and studies about Fruit of the Spirit, it’s pretty cool how all of these “fruits” work together and build upon each other in our lives. 

One who experiences the first three, Love, Joy, and Peace as the Holy Spirit leads us to deeper levels of truth, will soon cultivate the second set: Patience (Longsuffering), Gentleness (Kindness) and Goodness.

These first three are manifestations of God’s love stirring our souls and providing the revelation of the gospel to produce them; they affect our attitude which drives our actions towards others with the second three fruits. 

The second three are the manifestations of God’s love affecting our dealings with other people, and He provides the opportunities and discipline that produce these in us.

The third three fruits are our outward showing of our hearts by the Spirit; virtues which enable us to demonstrate the impact of God’s grace in our lives: meekness, faithfulness, and temperance.

In Galatians, the false teachers were trying to convince the church that their human methods of ritual and law would guarantee their perfection before God.

In Paul’s response, he showed that these false doctrines and ideas were no match to what the Spirit actually accomplished in those who submitted to Him.

A peaceful heart, a gentle spirit and a faithful life were a much greater witness of one’s salvation than adherence to restrictive laws.  Paul also said that the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit were in perfect harmony with God’s law and did not diminish or misrepresent it in any way. The only thing that has any bearing on our standing before God is our relationship with Christ in faith.

God’s grace is upon those who express their faith and act out their repentance by turning away from the deeds of the flesh to a life of submission to the Spirit.  Our repentance is evident in the fruit we bear through this submission. 

Our focus as Christians is not the fruit we produce, but the connection we have with God. 

Bearing fruit in the Christian life is not about doing works or attempting righteousness in our own strength. Rather, it is about intentionally growing in our walk with Christ, inviting the Holy Spirit's work of transformation in us, and actively obeying God in all He calls us to do. 

As we seek Him and lay down our own fleshly desires for His better ways, we will bear lasting fruit and serve as salt and light to a world in need of Jesus (Matthew 5:13-16).

Go back to Proverbs 11:30 and notice that the fruit that we produce will help us to “win souls”.  A spiritual person is interested in bearing burdens of others, whereas a carnal person will add to their burden.  A spiritual person is interested in “restoring” a brother, where a carnal person will judge them.

I believe that my ministry going forward will be mostly to those who are outcast from society.  They are some of the ones that need the Lord the most. 

Our ministry should be to the lost and to the saved; it should also be to those who need restoration back to the Lord.  I like what Warren Wiersby says in Be Free: “It is important to win the lost, but it’s also important to win the saved.”

Galatians 6:1 says, “…if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering himself lest though he also be tempted”.  The word restore means to mend as a net or restore as a broken bone.  This ministry is for all Christians.

Prison is full of men who need restoration.  From my own experience and from many conversations I have had, every inmate has experienced rejection by the people closest to them.  I am a very blessed man to have such understanding and godly family and friends.  I am truly constantly thankful for them.

My prayer every day for those that I have hurt is for them to forgive me.  Not for my sake but for their own peace with God.  It all starts with understanding and forgiveness. 

The people in my life who I offended the most had the most to forgive.  In my very first phone conversations and in their first letters to me after my arrest, they expressed their forgiveness before I could even ask for it.  They understood that God forgave us unconditionally and before we even asked for it.

Winning souls of the lost to Jesus and restoring people back to God takes spiritual fruit produced by spiritual people.   

What kind of fruit are you producing in your life?

I hope that this study helps you to understand and recognize spiritual fruit and how it is produced.  Take some time with the Word of God, pray and listen, worship alone and with others, share your time and talents.  When we are connected and intentional about our relationship with God, we produce the fruit that God cultivates within us.

I love you all!

Fruit of the Spirit - Temperance

The last characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit is TEMPERANCE.  Temperance is associated with self-control.  This is one that I struggle with a lot.  It’s simply keeping our emotions under control by not being easily provoked, and not letting circumstances take away our joy or our peace.

Imagine a piece of metal that is impossible to bend on its own.  It has temperance; it cannot be bent or broken without an extreme amount of heat or pressure. 

1 Corinthians 9:25 tells us to be “temperate in all things”.  Think about what we already looked at in Philippians chapter 4 where Paul talks about being content in every circumstance.  

I can be pretty temperamental sometimes.  If I am tired or hungry, the smallest things can upset me, or when my favorite team does well, I get a little too excited.  I know a guy whose wife recorded him responding to Tim Tebow throwing the game winning pass against the Steelers in a wild-card game a few years ago and posted it to Facebook.  My wife tried the same thing when the Broncos sealed their win against the Panthers in Superbowl 50, but I deleted it 😂

God gave us emotions to use as an outlet in our lives.  Without emotions, we wouldn’t be able to function properly.  Temperance is a part of the spiritual fruit that allows us to trust God’s word enough to control our emotions so that our actions are rooted in God's wisdom rather than being governed by our emotions or "feelings".  Self-control is a key ingredient in a person’s relationship with himself, with others, and the quality of his self-image. 

In working to understand just what “fruit” is, it’s helpful to remember that it doesn’t refer to individual items; it refers to a general outcome or result.  The result of the Holy Spirit working in our lives is love, joy, and all the rest that we’ve looked at.  It’s also helpful to remember that this fruit is not the product of our hard work or self-improvement.  We need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, but it is still HIM doing the work in us.

Self-control can be confusing because how can the ability to control oneself be the result of being controlled by someone else?  Basically, as God works in our lives, the result is that we are able to make the choice to pull away from our sinful nature.  That is the first step of self-control.  That choice gives us the freedom to make other choices based on love for God and rooted in the wisdom of God. 

We are best served and even freest when we use our self-control to submit to Christ.  His Word brings life.  Temperance/self-control frees us to live for Christ!  

When we are saved, God’s Spirit will temper us, and He will produce change in our lives.  He brings forth fruit in us, and we bear that fruit.  

Fruit of the Spirit - Faithfulness

FAITHFULNESS is the next in Paul’s list of fruit of the Spirit.  The Greek word that faith is translated from is pistis.  It is also translated as assurance, belief, fidelity.  

To me, faith in God, in His promises, and in His word is what drives the actions that produce these fruits of the Spirit.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.  What is the “evidence of things not seen”?  God’s words.  The rest of the chapter with its examples of faith illustrates that the faithful had only His words as evidence.

God makes certain promises in the Bible concerning consequences for trusting Him.  He told us that if we trust Christ as our Savior that we would have eternal life with Him (John 3:16).  I have never been to heaven, but I know that my works won’t get me there, so I’ve put my trust in Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection to pay my way to heaven. 

When Jesus says to love our enemies, when in my flesh I want to cause them harm, it takes faith to do the opposite of my fleshly desire to punish someone.  The promise that is given from faith is for us to have peace when we show longsuffering and gentleness.

 

Faith is not just simply believing in Jesus, but it is trusting Him by stepping out and letting him catch us, lead us, comfort us, and keep us.  Faith will lead to action every time.  (James 2:20).

Faithfulness that Paul is talking about means that one is true to God, to His word and His will, as well as being faithful to human obligations and relationships.  Faith is believing what God says.  That belief, that faith, is what pleases God, allowing us to have a right relationship with Him.

Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Be anxious for nothing”.  To have fear, worry, or anxiety displays a lack of faith in God’s promises.  Rather than give in to fear and worry, we can choose – an action – to believe God and His love.  If we believe in the depth of the love God and Christ have for us, faith in that perfect love with cast out fear (1 John4:18).  And we can say as David did: “I will fear no evil; for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

Where do we get this faith?  The answer in Ephesians 2:8 is “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

Even in salvation, faith in Jesus takes us to turn from what we were trusting in and turning to Him to be saved.  That’s repentance.

Repentance is the action that faith causes in regard to salvation and in our everyday lives (Acts 20:21).

 

Fruit of the Spirit - Meekness

The next characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit we find in Galatians 5:23 is MEEKNESS. 

Meekness is rooted in strength and the knowledge that one has access to the power of God.  A meek person submits his own will to God, winning His peace and favor.

Prautes, the Greek word translated "gentleness" means "to submit one's strength in a posture of meekness." Prautes is translated as "gentleness," "consideration," "humility," and "meekness".  One part of gentleness is to calmly accept God's judgment regarding a situation, even if that judgment results in personal hardship. It is humility toward God. When we submit to God, we will also be gentle with others.

I have heard the phrase, “meekness is not weakness”, and it’s true!  

This fruit of the Spirit seems lost in our aggressive, self-centered world.  Because people associate it with weakness, they don’t admire others for being “meek”.  But meekness is a quality of character, one that was very noticeable in Jesus.  It is an attribute of God Himself and is important to our being in His image and being a true witness.  This characteristic will largely determine how much peace and contentment are in our lives and how well we handle trials.

Meekness is so important that it is the third characteristic that Jesus mentions in His teaching, the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

Meekness is a condition of the mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness but in power!  

It is a balance born in strength of character.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 to come to Him when we need rest.  

He wants us to connect our lives to Him in faith.  

He says this in verse 29: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart”.

Jesus has the power to create, destroy, and to judge, but He shows mercy by taking our sin and our burden upon Himself instead of condemning us.  Showing meekness is having power and authority but using it in a godly, merciful, gentle manner.  A meek person is not preoccupied with self or with having his own will done at all costs.  Jesus’ meekness was evident when He accepted God’s will over His own in going to the cross.

Meekness enables us to patiently bear insults and injuries; this fruit produces contentment of mind.  “The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord,” (Isaiah 29:19).

Meekness allows us to endure being provoked without being inflamed by it.  Which leads to the final fruit of the Spirit -Temperance/Self-Control.

Fruit of the Spirit - Goodness

To continue on with the Fruit of the Spirit, the next attribute of this fruit is GOODNESS.  Through gentleness we show the world the mercy of God by looking past other people’s faults and sin, but also through goodness we turn around and do judgement in our own lives.  

Proverbs 21:3 tells us that to do justice and judgement in our own life is more acceptable to God than sacrifice. 

This proverb teaches us a godly rule for Christian ethics to help us guide our lives. If we take the time to learn this priority of wisdom, and humble ourselves to its righteousness, we can please God and find great peace for dilemmas.

“Justice and judgment” is doing what is morally right. Toward God, it is a pure heart obeying His words (I Samuel 15:22-23) and (Psalm 51:16-17). Toward men, it is being fair, right, and kind as defined by God. 

“Sacrifice” is keeping God’s precepts, ordinances, and services of outward religion, which are ceremonial, official, ritualistic, or external in nature. It is also obeying the letter of God’s commandments or worship while neglecting or violating the spirit or the intent of those laws or of personal mercy.

God values fair, right, and merciful treatment of men more important than ceremonial accuracy.

Self-righteous people, like the Pharisees, pretend that they love God’s word, but they only love black and white rules that are convenient.  They reject the concept of wisdom.  Wisdom correctly applies God’s principles that may override laws and learns God’s priorities in His commandments. 

In Ephesians 5:3-13, Paul gives a laundry list of our sin.  But he admonishes us in verse 8 to walk as the children of light and then in verse 9 he says, “for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness and truth”.  Having goodness is to remove as much sin from our lives as we can.  Goodness is very similar to kindness, but it refers more to what a person actually does.  Kindness is about attitude; goodness is more about acts.

In Psalm 139:23-24, King David says this to God: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.”  “And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” The sacrifice that God desires is a broken and contrite sprit; David had learned that God will not reject a truly penitent and repentant heart, a heart that in turning from sin changes direction to look to the Lord.  

Having the spiritual fruit of goodness is allowing the Holy Spirit to use 

His sword which is His word, and to weed out the sin in our life.  It’s the act of taking the judgement that we want to pass on to others for their sin and turning it around on us so that we can show them gentleness and show ourselves judgement.

This judgement is not a punishment for our sin, but a house cleaning. 

In 2 Kings, chapter 23, we see King Josiah clean out the temple of God.  It’s a great picture type of us cleaning out our lives of the idols and filth that we have. 

Having goodness in our life is following God’s order for all people.  

It’s impossible to live perfectly or to be without sin.  But part of our job as Christians is to “be holy” as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).  Being holy doesn’t mean to be without sin, it means to be set apart. 

In 2 Corinthians 6:4-17, Paul gives the instructions on how we are to live our lives as Christians ministering in this world.  In verse 6 he mentions longsuffering and kindness towards others (gentleness).  And then in 

verse 14 he begins to tell us about keeping ourselves holy and separate.  In verse 16 he tells us that we “are the temple of the living God”, and in verse 17 he says to “come out from among them and be ye separate”.

The Fruit of the Spirit can be broken down into 3 groups of three attributes. The first group (Love, Joy, and Peace) can be seen as character qualities or attributes of attitude given by God.  

Our attitude drives our actions toward others – these actions are the second group of three (Longsuffering (Patience), Gentleness (Kindness) and Goodness) and can be generally understood as attributes focused on human relationships that are pleasing to God.

The next three (Faithfulness, Meekness (Gentleness), and Temperance (Self-Control) that we will look at are qualities that enable an abiding life with God.  These are our outward showing of life motivated by God through all of these fruits.  Stay tuned!

 

Fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance . . . "

This next attribute of spiritual fruit, GENTLENESS, takes patience (longsuffering) to produce.  Most of the time, gentleness and kindness go along with forgiveness, forbearing, longsuffering, and meekness.  It’s easy to be gentle while holding a sleeping baby, but real gentleness is harder and is shown through forgiveness and love towards those who we don’t think should receive it (Matthew 5:43-48).

The Greek noun used in Galatians 5:22 for gentleness is "chrēstotēs” and has a sense of kindness.  Chrēstotēs comes from the Greek chrēstos, an adjective meaning "good, mild, and fit for use."  

In Ephesians 2:7 and Titus 3:4 it is translated as kindness and is in the context of the kindness shown to man from God in the form of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Romans 5:8 says that “God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 

Through gentleness, although we have the power to condemn others we are able to instead show mercy.  Kindness is a character trait that is best seen in generosity.  Kind people are generous in all things.  It is the opposite of being mean-spirited, legalistic, or narrow-minded.  Kindness is open and generous with time, affection, reward, and encouragement - it is gentle.

We are not naturally inclined to feel kindness to one another. The world teaches us to "look out for number one" - to dismiss others and concern ourselves instead with our own needs.  To feel a beneficial, tender concern inspired by a good character is not our natural tendency.  Yet the Bible tells us to be kind (Colossians 3:12).  The only way we can truly feel kindness toward others is through the influence of the Holy Spirit.  As we submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit works in our  heart to replace selfishness, anger, and coarseness with love, patience, and gentleness. These qualities are the "fruit" or attributes of the Spirit.

The kindness of the New Testament, chrēstotēs, is more than just doing something nice once in a while. It is the inclination of a person's character. When the Spirit works in us, we begin doing kind deeds because we are kind. There is no hypocrisy involved. The Spirit changes our hearts and thereby changes our actions.

In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul “beseeches” us to walk worthy of the vocation that we are called to.  In verses 2-3, he says how to do this: “with all lowliness and meekness (fruit), with longsuffering (fruit), forbearing one another in love (gentleness)", and “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. 

In Colossians 3 verse 2, Paul is giving instructions on how to “set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth”.  Part of his exhortation includes having “bowels of mercies” (verse 12) or compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, and having forbearance and forgiveness towards each other (verse 13).

Showing true gentleness and forbearance to another person affects that person, it affects you, and it affects those who are watching us.  People are always watching us.  (That reminds me of Monsters, Inc. when that old lady monster tells Sully and Mike that “we’re always watching”, lol.)

This is how “all men” will know that we belong to God – it is by how we treat each other (John 13:34-35). 

People are always also listening to us.  What we say also affects others in our lives.  Jesus said, "'A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart."  

Whatever is in your heart determines what you say (Luke 6:45).  Being a Christian, gentleness/kindness will be reflected by what you say.  This is bearing fruit as well.

Fruit of the Spirit - Longsuffering

LONGSUFFERING is the first of the next three characteristics of spiritual fruit.  Longsuffering is translated from the Greek word for patience: makrothumia.  This word is a compound of two words meaning “long” and “temper”.  We can relate this to not having a "short fuse".

This attribute, just like all of the others, has its roots in the Holy Spirit but it is grown in agape love.  If we look back at 1 Corinthians 13:4, the very first thing that Paul mentions about charity (love) is that it suffers long; meaning it is patient with others. 

This is a tough one for me.  I have never been very patient at all.  I believe all things should work like a Chic-fil-A drive thru!  If Chic-fil-A ran the BOP

it would drastically reduce the number of gangs, drugs, and the extremely high recidivism rate, lol.  Plus, we would have an endless supply of the Lord’s anointed chicken sandwiches, and the Lord’s holy sauce 😊

Paul goes as far as to say that we “glory in tribulations”.  That is, tribulation reveals what’s at the core of who we are.  When we allow the Holy Spirit to use His word to do the Father’s will in our lives, tribulation will reveal longsuffering.

 

The best way to grow patience is by exercising faith. 

The first full day that I was housed in H-unit here at Eden, I took advantage of rec time.  That day we headed to the gymnasium.  As I walked in the doors, I saw that we were in a full-sized gym with a basketball/volleyball court.  There was a set of bleachers on both sides, about four rows deep.  The bleachers on the left side only extended to about half court and stopped.  I noticed a large walkway at the end of those bleachers that lead to another area in the metal building.  This area was about half the size of the basketball/volleyball side.  It had a bathroom area in the middle that was attached to a caged in “barbershop” (which is currently closed due to Covid 19) with open areas on either side of it.  In one corner of the smaller open area was a cage with workout equipment, such as medicine balls, rollout wheels, step up platforms, and mats.

As I was checking all of this out, a couple of guys asked me if I wanted to work out with them.  These two inmates’ names are Dave and Diego.  They have known each other for quite a while because they are neighbors in the real world and have been cellies since their arrest.  I hung out with Dave and Diego after that day and got to know both of them really well.  They are both Christians who are dedicated to allowing God to turn them around and to do His will.  I’m proud to call them my friends.

We all worked out together quite a bit until Diego got moved.  I hadn’t noticed much of a physical difference in myself really, but Diego had noticed that arms had gotten bigger and even wanted me to feel how much bigger his biceps were, lol. 

PATIENCE IS ALSO A FORM OF ACTION                

Muscles don’t grow without proper exercise.  Neither does patience grow without exercising faith.  James tells us in James 1:2-3 that we should consider it pure joy (spiritual fruit) when we face trials and temptations because the testing of our faith works perseverance (patience).

When we go through hard, trying times and our faith is tested, putting our faith into action and facing the hard times trusting God, it produces or grows patience.  This is longsuffering, and it’s a tough spiritual fruit to produce because it’s only produced through suffering.  Patience is the willingness to bear under trial and unkindness and other forms of personal provocation without losing your composure. 

There are numerous examples of patience displayed in the Bible. 

Job is one that we often think of as he suffered long and lost everything, including his health.  But he didn’t lose faith and knew that God is compassionate and merciful (James 5:11).  Patience doesn’t take away our pain, but it does add joy and hope to it.

Jeremiah is another great example of patience.  He prophesied to the nation of Judah for forty years, and no one listened, but he didn’t give up.  

And how about Moses?  He had the job of leading obstinate and complaining people for forty years, yet delivered them safely to the Promised Land. 

The greatest example of patience is God Himself!  God’s patience leads us to repentance and saves us from judgment.  His patience gives us salvation (2 Peter 3:15).  The purpose of God’s patience is to delay judgment so that we can escape judgment and seek Him (2 Peter 3:9).

Through the Spirit’s power, we can display the same patience to others.

 

Fruit of the Spirit - Joy and Peace

Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance . . . "

The characteristic after LOVE that Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22 is JOY.  We usually equate joy with happiness, but I think that this joy is much better than happiness.  Joy is not necessarily an emotion but is a state of heart. 

The Greek word chara is translated as “joy” in the New Testament.  Paul uses the word throughout the book of Philippians which is the letter that he wrote to them while he was imprisoned.  In chapter 1, verse 4, Paul prays for them with joy – he experiences this fruit of the Holy Spirit despite his circumstances.

In Philippians chapter 4, Paul talks about how to have this state of heart.  In verse 11 he states, “…I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content”.  Then he expounds on these different circumstances where he has found contentment.  In verse 12 he says that he knows how to be “abased” (or made low) and have contentment.  He knows how to abound (or have abundance) and be content.  Paul knows how “to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need”, all the while having contentment.

This is the result of the of the spiritual fruit of joy.  We don’t need to look to our ever-changing circumstances or our ever-changing relationships for joy, but rather to our never-changing savior Jesus Christ.  Joy is independent of our worldly situation.  Complete joy is associated with fellowship and peace, it is the result of a right relationship with God.

James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Trials are not a circumstance we would consider to be happy in the common sense of that word, but we can have joy in the midst of them.  We still feel and express sadness, but we do so with hope, knowing that the hard things of this earth are not eternal, and that God is with us.  This is the joy of the Lord!

The next verse is the one Bible verse that is most taken out of context in my opinion.  “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me”.  Believe it or not, Philippians 4:13 does not have much to do with being good at sports.  It has to do with having inner joy and contentment while riding the ups and downs of life! 

The third attribute of the fruit of the Spirit on the list is PEACE, which goes right along with joy and contentment. 

Peace is Jesus sleeping on the ship on the sea in the middle of a storm.  The disciples with him didn’t have the spiritual fruit of peace that Jesus was demonstrating in the storm.  This is why He commanded the elements, “Peace, be still” in Mark 4:39.

God is God no matter if there is a storm or if we are having smooth sailing.  Our circumstances always change but God does not.  When we learn to trust and to be thankful to God in all circumstances in this way, it brings “the peace of God, which passes all understanding”. (Philippians 4:7).

In John 14:27, Jesus has just finished telling his disciples that he will be leaving them, but He will leave them with the Holy Spirit.  So now He tells them, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.”

God's peace is unlike anything the world can give and is the antidote to fear and anxiety. 

Jesus speaks about His peace that He gives us in John 16:33. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer.  I have overcome the world.”  

Ephesians 2:14 says that Jesus is more than just an example of peace or the bestower of it; He is our peace.

As we allow the Spirit to develop fruit in us, we will have real peace with God and each other.

These three first characteristics of the fruit (Love, Joy, Peace) refer to the inner experiences (attitude) that those who follow the Spirit enjoy.  These are the initial fruit produced in the soul of one saved by Christ and led by the Spirit.  Our attitude drives our actions toward others, which are the next three attributes: Longsuffering, Gentleness, and Goodness.

  

We experience these "fruits" through our increased knowledge and understanding of God.  

Knowing of God’s mercy and salvation gives us our own God-like love, 

it enables joy, and affirms a peace within us that goes beyond human understanding!