“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…  (Galatians 5)

 

The above passage is known as the fruit of the Spirit.  It is fruit singular because it grows from only one Source some say that it is singular because it grows together and at the same time.  This writer is not among those that say such a thing.  We cannot understand that belief as it has been our experience that these fruits grow at different times and ripen at their own rate.  We do not base this upon our own experience as it is the experience of others as well.

An example: “Look at all that fruit!”  When you enter a market and see multiple kinds of fruit you might say what is written in quotes above. Do you notice that fruit, though spelled singular is used as plural? We will define the Fruit of the Spirit as being present in and from only One (1) Source, the Spirit. This fruit being present in this One (1) source, develops and ripens at different stages. Therefore it may take all of one’s Christ-ian life to develop or ripen, love being first and self control being last. We believe the Fruit of the Spirit will ripen in the order in which the Spirit has written them. The fruit will ripen in accordance to the Spirit’s sovereignty in your life.  The more the Spirit has His way, the more will His fruit ripen. The more you walk in the Spirit, the more you entertain and engage the Spirit, the more you live in the Spirit, the more you will grow ripe and ready.

What does one do with ripened fruit?  One may take the fruit and put it inside of one’s self, making it a part of self….”You are what you eat” or one may make preserves (saves) from the fruit.

It is also the experience of others that the fruit grows in the order it is mentioned in our passages above and that would make spiritual sense.  It makes sense that love and joy would bud first as our love for God and others is in answer to the love of God, “We love God [and others] because He first loved us.”  Is our Love for God the first response and reaction to learning about and experiencing God’s love for us in Salvation?  When a sinner learns that God so loved Him that He sent His only Begotten Son to die and rise again in the sinner’s stead, does He not love God for this?

After learning of God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice and subsequent victory in the sinner’s stead does the sinner not respond in kind?  Does the sinner not then experience the growth of unexplainable and prior unknown joy?  The sinner turned saint realizes his sin is forgiven and forgotten and that he needs not fear ever again, is not joy the growth of this love and new found confidence in Christ?…yea, methinks…..me knows it is.

As the saint walks in the Spirit, lives in the Spirit and wars againt the flesh what is the next fruit to sprout and ripen?  The next fruit that grows and is listed with the other fruits is longsuffering.  What is longsuffering?  Typically, longsuffering is defines as being patient with those around us and not demonstrating impatience with them.  It can also be defined as enduring others in a sense of patience.  We are told that God’s longsuffering is salvation.  This means God dealt with His vessels of mercy and brought them to a place of repentance and salvation in longsuffering.  This means He did not deal with the vessels of wrath in longsuffering but instead fitted them to destruction. O’ How humbled and thankful are we, reader, to know God has suffered us so long and brought us unto Salvation?

We are called to live in the Spirit or to bear the fruit of lonsuffering as well.  This demonstrates for others what longsuffering is, as it is an attribute of God and God’s elect.  We will add another species of longsuffering as well.
Paul writes and tells us that he endured much for the sake of God’s elect.  Paul not only endured the short comings of those around him, but he also endured much in terms of actual physical and mental, and emotional suffering, one can read 2 Corinthians 11 for a list of paul’s longsuffering due to the elects sake and in answer to the love of God.

What are other features of longsuffering?  When the believer suffers long, he forebears those around him, he forgives others when they seek it, and he refuses the temptation to bitterness.  Reader, let me be very, very clear at this point.  If you go to church, read your Bible, and even say your prays and you do not love God and others, and you do not have joy, and you are not a person of longsuffering let me say your salvation is very much suspect, that is it is to say doubted. If one loves not God, let him be accursed, condemned, damned.

One of the ugliest things in the Christ-ian world is an unforgiving and bitter Christ-ian.  This kind of “believer” is a kin to vomit flavoured ice cream or feces flavoured jelly-bellies.
Why must a Christ-ian be longsuffering?  A christ-ian must be longsuffering because the Godhead is longsuffering.  Look back at the previous paragraph, You will notice I sandwiched forgiveness between forbearance and bitterness. This is because the believer is to forbear others in order to avoid the need of forgiveness and one must not allow bitterness to overtake one’s self if forgiveness is not sought by the offender. Forbearance is bearing with or putting up with others before the need of forgiveness is in play.  Bitterness is the anger and resentment one feels for another who has wronged him and who seeks not foregiveness.

At this point in our article we will answer two (2) why questions.

1. Why must we be longsuffering, IE. forbearing, forgiving, and bitter-free
2. Why do persons not seek forgiveness?

We, as believers, are longsuffering because:
*God has been, is, and forever will be longsuffering with you and me. Longsuffering should be natural to us as it is a supernatural ability and we are supernatural beings. As said above, if you find this divine attribute missing from your supernatural make up. your salvation is suspect and you should examine yourself. Or
*You have been hurt so badly and the anti-spirit of un-forgiveness and bitterness has been so long with you, it would feel as though a part of you has died if you were to forgive.  This is because that part of you will die…it will be mortified through the Spirit, it will be crucified to your flesh which is crucified to the world.  There are spiritually obese believers and if you would give up your bitterness and refusal to forgive you will lose much spiritual weight and baggage.  Besides, as you know, you are the one who is really hurting by allowing this anti-spirit to drive you.
*God commands us to be forgiving and threatens us with His witholding of forgiveness from us.  If we want God to be longsuffering towards usward, we must be longsuffering towards others.  This is a simple Biblical precept and principle.
*To be longsuffering is to be Christ-like and if that is not enough of a reason to be longsuffering, you are in a bad place, Reader.

Why do others not seek forgiveness from those whom they have wronged?
1.Pride…it is as simple as that one (1) syllable word. Pride…there is the letter i dead center of the word. Pr is at the beginning as in proud, problem, pretentious, and pregnant as in with pride.  The latter two (2) letters are de, as in death, dead, detestable deterrant, devil, demon, demonic.  Another way to look at pride is: The proud-heart..(p)rides into Hell.
A person refuses to seek forgiveness out of pride, to seek forgiveness is to admit one has done wrong and is under the power of the wronged party. It has been asked, “Would God forgive the devil?” The answer is, ” I don’t answer hypothetical questions.”  This question is a non-starter because the devil will never seek forgiveness nor will his angels or his children as they all have been turned over to the reprobate mind and are all reprobate concerning truth and the faith.  When a person refuses to humble themselves and ask for forgiveness they are acting like the devil himself.
2. Sometimes the offending party has no idea s/he has crossed a line.  I can remember years ago, a man…a good man and a good friend, in the attempt to compliment his wife, said to me, “I feel sorry for you.”  I asked, “why?” and he responded, “Your wife is not as pretty as my wife.”………….close your mouths, readers, or pick up your jaw from the ground.  In complimenting his wife he offended and insulted my wife and me….What to do….what to do… Forbearance can be difficult at times, but forebearance will win the day and will cover a multitude of sins.  What did we do?  Nothing.  We both understood he meant no offense at all.  This man would insult us not if you paid him…as I said, he is a good man and a good friend. To this day, I know not if he realizes what he said.
Sometimes, Reader, the offending party does not realize their offense.  This is why the Master directs, instructs, commands us to be the one who approaches the offending party and opens discussions regarding the offense.
3. The offending party is not sorry for their actions or words.  There are persons that have the motto, “Never apologize.”  To apologize means more than saying sorry or demonstrating regret, it is explaining the actions that caused the offense or defending them, hence the word apologetics.
It could be you have misunderstood and they need not apologize.  You may have acted foolishly in “answering a matter before hearing it.” I have done this many times.

Another question, What if you have been the picture of forbearance and you are willing to forgive, but the offender will not repent…what can be done?  Our Lord gives us the steps in the Book of Matthew, but what about the inside? What about our feelings? Reader, if the offender does not seek your forgiveness, for whatever reason, you CANNOT forgive them. Forgiveness must be sought after in order to obtain it.  If you, happily and freely forgive everyone for everything you condone their actions and you do not have that right.  Yes, Reader, I said, you do not have the right to forgive unless forgiveness is sought, wanted, desired, asked for, pleaded for, etc. What is one to do with their feelings?  One should, could, would, and must deny the eroding spirit of bitterness.  Do not entertain that kind of mind-set. You cannot allow bitterness to set in, for bitterness will “bitte” you and eat you alive.

When a person says, “I forgave you, already” after someone seeks that forgiveness they are misspeaking.  They have not forgiven them; they have refused to allow bitterness to nest in their heart, but the act of forgiveness has not been enacted until forgiveness is asked for.

Summary:  We are not teaching unforgiveness, God forbid.  We are teaching what proper forgiveness is….what longsuffering is…what forbearance is, and what bitterness is and does. The balance of forgiveness must be kept lest the Christ-ian condones all manner of wrong-doing and unrighteousness.  In other words, Forgiveness takes two (2) to be forgiveness; the refusal to entertain bitterness takes only one (1)….refusing bitterness takes one, who is one with the Supernatural Spirit of our Loooooooonnnnnngggggggggsuffering God.