My sister was taking a bible study and they were studying the "fruit of the holy spirit". What they were studying can be found in Galatians 5:16-26. We had a discussion, a lengthy one at that, on whether or not the gifts of kindness and goodness go together. Her leader was discussing that to have one you had to have the other. My first thought was that I have known people who, to me, had been kind but were not what we would call "good". We both had also known what we would refer to as "good" people who did not seem to be very kind.
After some reading and praying the best opinion I can come up with is that they do not necessarily go hand in hand. Each one is a separate gift, thought they do seem to entwine, all coming from being children of Christ and through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can have one of these gifts alive and bearing pretty good fruit but may be having dificultity producing fruit from another of the gifts. The will of the Holy Spirit is for these gifts to be manifested and through our invitation to a life with Christ, we have been set free from sin's power. This does not mean that we won't sin anymore but that we have the power in Christ Jesus to fight that sin. But for any of these spiritual fruits to be active in our lives we must daily commit ourselves to laying aside any sin that is the opposite of the gifts of the Spirit. We must daily comit ourselves to the leading of the Spirit and the growth, blossoming and maturing of these fruits.
I would love to hear some other thoughts on this as it is a very thought provoking subject and I wish to have alot more fruit of the Spirit on the tree of my life. Give some feedback on what these scriptures mean to you....and let us pray for each other that the Holy Spirit will be working to produce a tree that is hanging over with fruit, fruit that lasts into eternity.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25
2 comments:
I have an opinion that I'll share. I don't think Kindness and Goodness are the same gift. I do, however, think that these are special gifts that tend to require a deeper walk of faith to develop. Therefore, people who are gifted with one of these may tend to have other gifts of the Spirit that God has given them, as well. So, many people who have one of these may have the other, making it appear that they are gifts given as a pair when, in fact, they are very individual and have properties all their own.
And I think you're correct in saying that some people are kind but not, necessarily, good while some people are good but not particularly kind.
Trish
I agree. They are different. Just as speaking in different tongues and prophecy are different. Just because you speak in a prayer language, does not mean you have the gift of prophecy.
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