His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

In my lifetime, I’ve known several people who claimed to be followers of Christ, but whose actions didn’t appear to back up this assertion.

From what I could observe, none of the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness—were in evidence in their talk or in their walk.

If these characteristics were part of who they were, I didn’t see it.

For me to believe  a person is truly born again, like the plant that suddenly burst forth from my flowerbed last week, these Spirit-filled qualities need to make an appearance.

Sometimes, similar to the way the plant that was hidden  beneath the soil of  my garden all summer, certain conditions need to be met before a person’s true godly nature can be known.

In like manner, unless God had chosen to reveal His love—an intrinsic component of who He truly is—then, we would not and, indeed, could not, have known Him. If God’s love, mercy, compassion, kindness, goodness, had stayed within God and not appeared in the form of His Son, none of us would have ever benefitted.

Without this revelation of God’s nature, all of us would be lost forever.

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us . . . through Jesus Christ our Savior . . .” (Titus 3:4-6).

As a Spirit-filled child of God, allow the fruit of His Spirit to  burst forth from you today. May those around you see what is hidden within you.