It is interesting to notice that in the middle of the teaching about the vine, Jesus declared that he no longer calls his disciples servants, but friends (1). It is a result of the divine love, of which Jesus says: “Remain in my love!” (2)
This love is also the root of the fifth quality of the Fruit of the Spirit:
Kindness (3)They who know me well, will also know that I strongly dislike kindness or friendliness that is not genuine. It is very evident in situations where I am a potential “customer”. Sellers are often “kind” to the extreme, and I am sure it is correct business-etiquette, but this method puts me off rather than on.
When Jesus spoke about peace, he said: “my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (4) I believe that the same could be said about all the other qualities of the fruit as well. “My kindness I give you – not as the world gives”. The kindness which he speaks about, comes from within.
We notice it when we come to a church. Most churches have ushers or welcome-sergeants, who will receive people in a good way. You will sense when the kindness come from within, from the same source as all fruit.
And when we sense the fruit of the Spirit, we know that the Lord is near (5).
‘Manna’ for today:
The fruit of the Spirit brings Jesus near.-------------------------------------
(1) John 15:15
(2) John 15:9b
(3) The fruit of the Spirit is … kindness – Gal 5:22 The Norwegian translation of kindness is friendliness - this means that there connection between friend and friendliness is lost in translation. The same is true with (5) where the Norwegian translation is: "Let your friendliness be evident to all".
But it also confirms the "oneness" of the fruit of the Spirit with regard to the fact that the qualities are synonyms - meaning that you cannot have one without the other.
(4) John 14:27
(5) Phil 4:5
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