Building Inner Strength

Riding down the road today I began thinking about these two passages from Galatians that deal with the way that believers build inner strength:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (5:22-23)

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (6:7-9)

In the first passage we get a peek into the character of God in the Christians life. The second passage tells us how we can develop those inner qualities.

To be patient we must sow seeds of patience when we are tempted to be impatient. To be strong in love we must defy the gravity of hate when we lift the barbell of love. When we exercise self-control we sow seeds that will make us spiritually stronger. It is true with each aspect of God's fruit.. we reap what we sow.

It is not a matter of fleshly works that we figure out with our heads - it is simply responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit in our heart. We are growing spiritual fruit with each seed that we sow.. we are growing in the ways of the Spirit as we, in faith, plant spiritual seeds. It is a kingdom thing.