I saw this on social media and I thought it summarizes our responsibilities as children of the living God. “Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love.” These all apply to how Christians should interact with those around us.
Of course those fruit of God’s Spirit within us are not limited to those parts of our body. It all begins and not ends with God’s love in our heart. Kindness is actually that love put into action by our voice and our actions. Compassion can be expressed in many ways, but attentively and quietly listening is one of the best ways. We often think of charity in terms of monetary donations, but donating our time and physical energy for a charitable cause can be even more effective and rewarding. If our mind is filled with truth, our words will also be true. Mark Twain once said, “When you speak the truth, there is nothing to remember.”
Truth is the only thing above that is not listed in Galatians 5:22-23 as fruit of the Spirit, but it is an essential part of our Christian life mentioned many other places in scripture. Jesus is the Truth. Other fruit of God’s Spirit within us that apply to our interaction with others are patience and faithfulness. The other fruit of the Spirit are what make us who we are as God’s son or daughter; joy, peace, goodness and self-control. Those are things the world will see in us even though they may not understand the source. ::;
These are things that will set us apart from the world around us. We are in the world, but we are no longer of the world. Have you ever looked down at a city sidewalk on a bright summer day and notice that it is sparkling? The contractor added ground glass to the cement to keep the surface from being smooth and slippery when wet. The glass is in the sidewalk but it is not the same as the cement all around it. Like that glass, we reflect the light of God’s love for all to see how different we are from those around us. Also like the glass, the Great Contractor has placed us where we are for a very good reason. We have a purpose for being here.
We need to examine ourselves often to make sure we haven’t lost our sparkle and our purpose. If you have any trouble with that, just ask the Holy Spirit and He will show you.