We had two guests at our home this past week. Kinsey and Jordan had the difficult assignment of going to Hawaii where Jordan made a presentation at a conference, so Owen stayed with Susu and Opa. The other guest was our Dutch missionary friend Harry who has lived with his wife Dagmar in the Old City of Jerusalem for almost thirty years.
Harry became good friends with ‘almost two-year-old’ Owen over the course of the week. I think he was most impressed with his friendliness. We went to a restaurant Friday evening and as the hostess seated us, Owen waved to every table and said, ‘Hey.’ No matter the age or race or size of the group, someone always waved back and spoke to the little man.
I noticed Harry with the same happy demeanor in our neighborhood. Anytime he would see a person walking or working in the yard he would approach and strike up a conversation. Of course most were probably intrigued with his European accent, but each also appreciated his warm personality.
Isn’t it interesting that at least three of the nine fruit of the Spirit reveal that such characteristics are of God? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) I witnessed a lot of kindness, goodness, and gentleness this week.
Since these attributes are from the Holy Spirit, we know that Jesus illustrated them perfectly. On earth, Jesus was kind, He was good, and He was gentle. Since Jesus is the perfect reflection of His Father, we know that God is kind, God is good, and God is gentle.
One night, we watched The Shack with Harry. If someone unfamiliar with God watched the movie, they would notice kindness, goodness, and gentleness depicted in the characters representing the Father, Son, and Spirit. Harry loved the story.
As we let our light shine, let’s live in the Spirit and reflect the beauty of our Lord.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” II Peter 1:3-8