“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

Demonstrating kindness, to others isn’t always easy, especially if we are frustrated with their actions. Pastor Rusty George shares a personal example,

“I can easily be a critic of people’s actions; I can become judgemental about what they’re not doing, I can look at people who are far from God and kind of turn my head and say, ‘Well I’m glad I’m not like that.’

“But when I stop and I show kindness to them, it opens up a conversation; even builds a friendship and allows me to share Jesus with them. When we are kind to others it puts them in a position to hear the good news.”

We have a powerful opportunity to introduce people to the hope of Jesus Christ by demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit. Rusty reminds us that we will not always see the impact this side of Heaven, but that’s all a part of God’s big story.

“We only see what’s going on right now; we don’t recognize the huge story God is unfolding from the beginning of time; we play a very small piece in that.

“God has such great things He wants to do in us and through us, some of which we see in our lifetime some of which we will not.”

It’s important to live out all of the fruits of the Spirit, so that we can make a lasting impact in the kingdom of God. Rusty shares an example of a close friend at church,

“A friend of mine, who was a part of our church that was so instrumental in helping us get out of the movie theater and into a building, never got to worship in the building because he died before we moved in.

“But the amount of people that came to Christ and now are worshiping in that building because of this guy’s testimony, the life that he led, etc. would be a far greater gift to him than had he been able to be alive long enough to be in that building.

“The hope that we have is that our partnership with God makes a lasting impression that doesn’t just last in this life, but in the life to come.”

Highlight: Living a legacy of kindness

God’s word in action