fruitfulness

What is it to be gentle? Everyone has an image in their mind’s eye or an idea. But it’s probably best to start with the One we ought to model and so ask, what did gentle look like on Jesus? Perhaps the first place we might go is Matthew 11:28-29. There Jesus tells us that he is “gentle and lowly in...

Just as the root of Christian living is the work of God’s Spirit in our hearts, goodness is the chief attribute of the Spirit’s blessing in our relationships. Along with patience and kindness, goodness is a social grace, a virtue realized only in societies (however great or small). True goodness is...

A vivid lesson on kindness found throughout Old Testament scripture is how frequently kindness is expected as a matter of reciprocity. Abimelech expected kindness from Abraham in return for having shown kindness to Abraham: “God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God...

Any discussion on the fruit of the Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5 must begin with the simple fact that the list gives fruits of the Spirit, not fruits of human effort and achievement. Thus any discussion on faithfulness as a fruit of the Spirit also begins there. Faithfulness in the life of a...

There was once an ancient man who so pursued the Lord, seeking always to glorify God no matter what came his way, no matter how crooked his lot, that even God himself could proclaim of him that “He still holds fast his integrity” (Job 2:3). Of course, Job’s ability to “hold fast” to his integrity...

The aspiration for peace has loomed large in the popular consciousness against the backdrop of continual wars, conflict, and social upheaval. It is the dream of every pageant contestant. And it has its own iconography: the v hand signal and the famous “peace sign” created for the British Campaign...

In Matthew 12, Jesus and the disciples experienced events that had to be bitterly disappointing. Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute and the Pharisees said “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons” (12:24). A little later, they came to him...

The fear of God is essential to what it means to be a believer, yet there seems to be a modern aversion to this often misunderstood theme. Tune in as James and Jonathan talk to long-time friend Keith Plummer as he shares the security and courage that the fear of the Lord is intended to give to God’...

Oh, the goodness of God’s anger! That God, in his divine simplicity, has anger and is immutably angry, presupposes that God has goodness and is good. Christopher Ash and Steve Midgley state the doctrine well, “If God were not angry with evil, God could not be good. If God did not hate evil, he...

One of the most difficult things for people to do is to cease striving and rest. Yet striving after the things the human heart craves, like significance, security, and success, has not brought people contentment. Instead, people are frustrated, hate their jobs, despair of life itself, and grieve...