Fruit of the Spirit: Patience and Kindness
Just like yesterday, we see that the next two fruit of the Holy Spirit—patience and kindness—are inextricably linked to love. When Paul tells us what love is, the first two things he says is that, “love is patient, love is kind.”1
Ripening Fruit
Since God is love, we can understand why patience and kindness would be a fruit of the Holy Spirit. He has given us the gift of his divine love and when we live according to the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we unite our actions with God’s perfect love.
Fruit that ripens becomes juicy, delicious, sweet and so enjoyable to eat. The ripening of the fruit of the Spirit is the same in our lives. Experiences that test our patience or kindness are some of the most frequent tests we come across (at least my patience is tested every single day in a million small ways!) These tests can lead to the ever-ripening fruit.
Heavenly Fruit
God is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness—and all the other fruit that we’ll look at. He doesn’t offer us gifts that do not reflect his own nature.
As Paul says,
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.2
The fruit gives us a glimpse of heaven because in heaven we will be able to witness and experience the full glory of God.
Preparing Our Hearts
How is God calling us to participate in his patience and kindness? Are we allowing the fruit to ripen in our lives through the opportunities God presents to us? We are given these gifts to deepen our trust, knowing that he wants us to enjoy the perfect ripeness of his fruit.