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How do we let the world around us know that we are Christians? The most powerful witness we have is the way we live. If we consistently produce the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives, as found in Galatians 5, the world will know we are Christians. I’m challenging you—and myself—to become more intentional about producing this fruit.
#4 – Patience
First Thessalonians 5:14 says to “be patient with everyone.” Whoa! That’s hard to do, isn’t it?
It might be helpful for you to list those with whom you have the most difficulty being patient. List the situations that test your patience the most and pray specifically about each of these.
Then, decide what you are going to do when you begin to feel impatient. One sure-fire antidote for those feelings of impatience is to pray a quick prayer and/or quote a verse of scripture. Invoke God’s power; turn on the power of God’s Spirit in your life at these times, because you can’t do this on your own.
#5 – Kindness
What does kindness look like? It looks like common courtesies, like “thank you” and “please.” It looks like allowing someone to get in line in front of you or letting a car into the line of traffic in front of you. Kindness is saying words that bring encouragement and comfort. It is taking time to help an elderly person or give a child a cheery greeting. Kindness may simply be a smile on your face, a friendly hello, a listening ear. Whatever form it takes, we all know and love kindness when we see it, don’t we?
Set a goal to do at least one kind thing for someone every day. Then, all through your day look for those opportunities. When you go out of your way to be kind, even in the very small things, it not only makes an impact on those to whom you are kind, it also comes back to you in many ways.
Proverbs 11:17 says that a kind person benefits himself. We reap what we sow, and when we sow kindness, it does indeed benefit us, too.