The Fruit of the Spirit is . . . Patience

Our "quick fix" mentality wants to find a short cut for everything: especially patience. ("Give me patience and give it to me NOW!") My goal in preaching this series on the Fruit of the Spirit is not so much to tell us how to get love, joy peace, patience, and the rest; as much as to describe these qualities so we can cooperate with God as he seeks to develop them in our lives. These nine qualities are, in reality, the description of Jesus Christ.

Setting up patience as a personal goal may be like setting happiness as a goal. As we mentioned in the sermon on joy: the chase after happiness chases happiness away. Make it your goal to develop the mind of Christ. In the words of scripture, "live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desire of the sinful nature" (Galatians 5:16). Patience develops in our hearts as we devote ourselves to following the leading of God's Spirit within us.

As seen in the video this morning, my little doggies can wait patiently because they know from training that they will get a treat. God has a different training method. He puts the Spirit of his son in our hearts to refine our character so that we are not simply "acting" patient, we are actually becoming patient. Behavior modification changes what we do. The Spirit of God changes who we are.