Our home group is starting a study that will focus on the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as spoken of in Galatians 5. It occurred to me that we Christians tend to put spiritual things in neat boxes. Galatians 5 lists The Fruit of the Spirit; 1 Corinthians 12 lists The Gifts of the Spirit; Matthew 5 has The Beatitudes; 1 Corinthians 13 is The Love Chapter.
Certainly, these passages speak of those topics, often very eloquently, but those are not the only places the Bible speak of those topics. By affixing special labels to passages such as these, the risk is that we limit what we learn and understand ... about the kind of character traits the Holy Spirit works in believers ... about the ways in which the Holy Spirit empowers believers for ministry ... about the kind of character God blesses ... about selfless love. God spread teachings and examples of these qualities throughout His word. And we should honor Him by learning from all of His word.
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