But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
Am I ripe, or am I still just a bit green, needing to sit on the counter a bit longer to allow my flavor to deepen so the fullest, most delicious bite is its finest? I first completed an extensive study on the above verses with Pam Thompson. She was a pushover for any study where “joy” was an included element. So, Beth Moore, here we come, and full speed ahead! Since that long ago summer deep dive into Beth’s study on the well-known and loved Galatians Fruit of the Spirit passage, I’ve experienced a maturing of the flavor of my Fruit. I would certainly hope so; I’ve been on the counter a good while by now. However, in some ways, I’m still there, awaiting the perfect maturing of all delightful essences of this Fruit, two of which are self-control and faithfulness.
OBNICE
Brilliant. Some people are simply brilliant with their car tags. When my husband and I saw “OBNICE” on a tag, we looked at each other and burst out laughing. Oh be nice! I told him I was making my own tag and had plans to flash it at appropriate moments. But, really, it’s not that complicated. Be nice. Control myself. Control my tongue, my thoughts, my actions. Right? Actually, it's work. It’s work to avoid that last word, that last remark, or the last touché to an animated discussion. It’s work to keep scrolling rather than fire off a comment on a social media thread in the minefield of election politics. It’s work to avoid being irritated at the front vehicle in a long line of traffic when the light turns green and — Really???? Get. Off. Your. Phone. And. Go!!! Confession? Sometimes it’s me, the delay culprit, reading the next paragraph of my Kindle book. Ugh. Self-control is important; I’m doing better. I’ve learned the importance of pausing to ask myself important questions. Does it matter? Is it Christ-honoring? Rick Warren once wrote, “Love lets it go.” Yes, that’s love; that’s also self-control. He followed with the truth that there are times it doesn’t work to “let it go,” but to “Be tender without surrender.” That’s self-control too.
Faithfulness, another beautiful essence in the flavor of the Fruit of the Spirit, is defined (in a swift Google search) as “steadfast loyalty, unwavering commitment, and trustworthiness.” I look out over the worship center during the first service and see it in the lives of Phil and Gwen Bailey, Benny and Sandy Bechtol, Dr. L.D. Barker and Alta – in their relationships with each other and in their devotion to the Lord. I saw it in the faces of Denise Keys and Sue Ellen Ferguson and their service in the Name of Jesus to the needy, wounded, and hurting. In the depths of a personal sorrow, I felt it in the arms of my friend Becky Rimmer whose ministry of presence was the mark of a faithful friend. Countless times I experienced the rich gift of the Father’s own faithfulness delivered fresh—-every morning as a teacher praying for His Hand on my every class, every evening as a daughter in a season as caregiver for my mom and praying for strength, every single moment as one gutted during a period of betrayal by some closest to me while I prayed for wisdom and discernment. The comfort and fierce declaration of Lamentations 3:22 is solid and real, “How great is His faithfulness!” God the Spirit desires to meld the flavor of this virtue in the Fruit of His Spirit within me.
Each essence of the Fruit of the Spirit infusing the others, including self-control and faithfulness, produces a flavor delightfully beautiful, thoroughly delicious–heavenly. Exactly, heaven-sent. The divine work of God the Spirit in my receptive and tendered heart is doing the work of ripening and bringing about a lovely, luscious flavor in my Fruit. I then am sweetly equipped to live out His plan and purposes – and make it off the counter, delectable and pleasing to Him.
Meet the Author!
Ricki Robertson is “Honey” to Jim, “Mom” to three adult sons, “Mama Ricki” to two daughters-in-love, and “Grammy” to two granddaughters. She is a happily retired middle school English teacher whose claim to fame is having had former Council Road ministers Matt McLain and Makenzie Magnus Yeary as her seventh-grade stellar students. A member of CRBC since 1997, she can be found reading with Heavenly during Whiz Kids (yes, really-her name is Heavenly), some Sundays making the trek to the secret Council Road organ chamber to make some serious racket on the oldest working musical instrument of the church, and other days pursuing her semi-professional pickleball dream career on the Cube courts – unless it’s Women’s Bible Study morning.