Dear all - here are the last 3 fruits of the spirit to print and colour at home: Gentleness, Goodness and Kindness. In this episode we meet our youngest new member - what a treat. The Thankful thought is below - enjoy. Love and Prayers Claire xx
Thankful Thought 9th July 2020 : Goodness, Gentleness and Kindness
I will tell of your goodness. I will praise you every day
Philippians 4:5 Let all men see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is near.
This week we look at the last 3 fruit of the spirit and they are at first sight very similar.
I was struck by God’s goodness and his provision of goodness to us in all that he has created in his beautiful world – especially in his provision of food. At my old church we had a link with a church in South Africa and the priest from there always began his preaching with the words “God is Good” – to which the congregation responded – “All the time” and he replied – “All the time” – and the congregation responded “God is good”. I think we all need reminding of this fact often. The opposite of goodness is evil, and we must remember that the evil things are not of God– because God is good – all the time! I think perhaps only God can be good all the time, but we can aspire to be good and we can live knowing that when we fall short, we can confess our sins and be forgiven.
Gentleness and kindness go together in my mind and clearly in the mind of Paul as we see from the Philippians quote above. Being kind and gentle is not always the quick way to get things done and too often in this world of efficiency things are done roughly and unkindly which causes a great deal of hurt. As Christians we must be distinctively different. So, let all see that you are gentle and kind – in your actions and your words. That is a great way to begin to show the love of Christ to a hurting world. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you up with goodness, kindness and gentleness so that it may flow from you to all you meet and be especially evident in your parenting – remember it is not always the quickest way to get things done but it does bear ever-lasting fruit.
Love and Blessings Claire xx
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