The Fruit of the Spirit is not Lemons (click to comment)

The Bible tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruit of the spirit is not lemons. My son Jeff agrees. He loves to laugh. He can rarely complete a joke on his own. He has this contagious laugh that spills out of the house, down the street, and sometimes even into church. When he was small, he took to screaming during a sermon, so I whisked him out the back. He yelled over my shoulder, “Pray for me!” Jeff’s been making us laugh ever since.

You know fear, anger and worry don’t get along very well with laughter. These enemies inflate our balloons to the popping point; laughter comes along and slowly releases the pressure. Laughter contains no MSG, no cholesterol, no grams of fat and no sauerkraut. It disarms, revives, motivates and encourages. But for many of us laughter isn’t easy to come by, is it? Recently my wife and I stood in a graveyard and say goodbye to her step-dad, a fine Mennonite with a hearty laugh and a deep love for God. He took great care of Ramona’s Mom for 25 years. It was our third family funeral in 7 months. Where will we find joy? Not from the pea soup fog that’s rolling in. But the fog reminds us that even though we can’t see the road ahead, we know Who will be there. We take great comfort knowing we’ll be reunited one day in Heaven.

In the Bible, David was on the run from a King who wanted him dead. Yet in the midst of the uncertainties and horrors that David was experiencing, he penned these words:

I will praise the LORD at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
Let all who are helpless take heart.
Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
For the angel of the LORD is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.
Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.

Whatever you’re experiencing today, I pray that, like David, your face will be radiant with joy. How is this possible? David said it starts by simply looking to God. I need to focus on Him today, our deliverer and defender, the one whose presence and promises bring us joy and help us laugh again.