51

PEACE IS LOVE RESTING.

There's a difference between your lot and your legacy.

Your lot as a Christian will include tribulation. Jesus made that clear when he said:

"In the world you have tribulation" (Jn.16:33).

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you" (Jn. 14:27).

Instead, you will learn how,
in the very midst of testing,
to claim the peace of Christ by faith
even though you may not feel it at the moment.

The absence of a feeling of peace, while it may be an indication of your having slipped into a carnal state, does not necessarily or invariably mean that.

There are other causes of restlessness. Sometimes they're physical. Relational. Situational.

Learn to distinguish between
      love and the emotion of love,
           joy and the rapture of joy,
               peace and a sense of peace.

God wants you to walk by faith, not sight.

Feelings are sight things.
They are supportive of faith, but no substitute for faith.

If you suffer from an absence of a sense of peace:

Search to see if you have slipped momentarily into a carnal state.

If so, deal with that through confession, repentance and forgiveness.

Then receive a fresh infilling of the Spirit.

If not, remember:

There's a difference between your lot and your legacy.

52

PATIENCE IS LOVE WAITING.

Patience is not passivity.
Patience is not placidity.

As my friend Dr. A. John Nastari has pointed out:

"Patience does not mean you blindly accept life as it is...
patience means you have power to overcome life as it is."

A person who knows she is loved is full of joy.
       A joy-full person is conscious of having peace as his
       legacy despite any tribulation which may be his lot.
Out of love, joy and peace come patience.

Like the three virtues which preceded it, patience is an attribute of God.

    "The lord waits (patiently) to be gracious to you" (Isa. 30:18).

God does not delay because he is capricious.
God does not delay because he is neglectful or stingy.

God does not delay because he wants to deny your request
or take away your fun.

As F. B. Meyer said so eloquently,

"God's delays are children of his love. He waits that he may be gracious. He patiently dams up the current so by holding it back it may become a swifter, fuller stream."

Patience on your part is evidence you trust the patience of God. That you honestly believe his time, like his will, is best. That his judgement is sound.

Impatience is evidence you're not so sure. So you resort to your own solutions.

Bummer!

53

KINDNESS IS LOVE ACTING.

Kindness and goodness, mentioned together in Galatians 5:22, sound like kissing cousins. They're not. They're as different as night and day.

Kindness is expressed in practical usefulness.

It is concerned with deeds, not just words.
As such, kindness is extremely utilitarian.

Goodness is love expressed in practical holiness.

It is concerned about what evil does to the object of love.
As such, goodness is extremely vigilant.

Kindness is love helping others.
Goodness is love protecting its own.

Kindness is the gentle face of love.
Goodness is the stern face of love.

The Spirit's fruit is not produced in you to benefit you!
Although it does,
it is produced for the benefit others.

The Spirit's fruit is God's love lived out through you. Sometimes the beneficiary he leads you to bless with an act of kindness is someone you love in the Lord, but don't like (Lk. 6:35).

What then?

Well, this is a supernatural lifestyle you've embarked upon. When your human nature rebels, recognize that rebellion for what it is:

A temptation to stop walking in the Spirit.

Don't react. Respond! The Spirit-filled life is volitional, remember? Make a decision. Give the Holy Spirit permission to do his job. Invite him, in that moment, to reproduce the character of Christ in you. You may not like someone, but Jesus does!

After the act of kindness has been done, a second temptation, in the form of a beguiling thought is likely to present itself.

"Wasn't that kind of me!"

54

GOODNESS IS LOVE PROTECTING.

Goodness is not being good or doing good. That's kindness.

Goodness is loving good to the point of hating evil
for what evil does to good.

Clean anger--that part of the fruit of the Spirit called goodness--boils up at wrong done to others.

Clean anger focuses on the sin, not the sinner.
                                It's purpose is answers, not accusations.

By correction and discipline goodness seeks to purify the object of love.
The goal is that he or she become whole.
As such, goodness is not only helping, it is healing.

CLEAN ANGER AT WHAT SIN DOES TO YOU.

While goodness is triggered by wrong done to others, there also is a place for indignation at Satan's audacity in attempting to

beguile,
     bewilder and
            befuddle you.

Jesus was furious at Satan's invasion of the temple in Jerusalem. You should be angry too.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 3:19).

When filled with the Spirit, you will express goodness--white hot anger--at the enemy who would invade you--God's temple!--and tempt you to sin.

Goodness is a matter of the heart.
Goodness hates anything which would take God's place there.

Goodness helps you stay full of the Holy Spirit.
Goodness is never angry at you, nor should you be angry at yourself.

You're not the culprit, you're the battlefield (Rom. 7:15-25).

55

FAITHFULNESS IS LOVE OBEYING.

When you exhibit goodness, faithfulness follows.
    When you love good to the point of hating evil
         you create an internal atmosphere
         which fosters faithfulness to God.

If you are faithful to him you will find it impossible to be unfaithful to

your spouse,
    your family,
your partner,
    your friends,
your fellow Christians
    or, for that matter, yourself
and your higher nature!

The fruit of the Spirit is indivisible. Each facet leads to the next. They stand

and, conversely,
they fall together.

Put simply, the Spirit's fruit withers on the branch
so the branch gets pruned (Jn. 15:1-8).

Faithfulness is being where you ought to be, doing what you ought to do.

To a fruitful branch
faithfulness has enormous benefits!