God's Power to Change Your Life (Living with Purpose)

IT TAKES TIME One last point: it takes time for fruit to ripen. There is no such thing as instant maturity or instant spiritual growth. Time is essential.

Love is not simply the first fruit mentioned; it is actually the fruit. All the other fruits are simply expressions of love. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is joyful. Love is the basis of all positive actions.

character produces hope (Rom. 5:4). In the Bible the word hope does not mean “I wish” or “I want.” It means confidence in Christ’s power and confidence in God’s promises.

I cannot love my child if I am still angry toward my brother. You cannot give total love when your heart is divided. And a bitter heart is a divided heart.

Ask him to help you respond to difficult people and unpleasant situations as Jesus would. God wants to produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Will you cooperate with him in that life-changing process?

DEVELOP A SPIRITUAL WORKOUT

This is an important truth: It is easier to act my way into a feeling than to feel my way into an action.

God’s Word reminds us, “Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing. Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ” (Phil. 2:4 – 5 LB).

The Bible also says that love is a matter of conduct. Love is something we do — an action, not a feeling. The apostle John expressed it this way: “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

We don’t have to like everyone (isn’t that a relief?), but we do have to love them.