When we think of ourselves in light of who God is, how do we see ourselves? Do we consider ourselves children and heirs? Do we see ourselves through the lens of the salvation Jesus won us and extended to us? Do we view ourselves as conquerors and overcomers? Do we see busy servants that are continuing Christ’s work through the talents God gifted us with? Do we see ourselves the way John saw Himself: humbly and in light of how seriously we fall short of Jesus’ magnificence?

Patience. No one likes talking about patience. Love? Joy? Peace? Those are all Fruits of the Spirit that people love talking about, but patience? Pass. In truth, patience is a hard virtue to work on, because it’s one season of life’s seasons we’d all rather avoid; but at the same time, we can’t cultivate patience within ourselves if we are never challenged to wait.

The Fruits of the Spirit remind me of Sunday school lessons. No matter where you go to church, odds are, if you were a kid there was some kind of poster or coloring sheet that had pictures of apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, etc. and they all were labeled with a different fruit of the Spirit. There are songs that we learn in order to memorize them, and maybe you were given a piece of candy or a prize if you could list them all off the top of your head. As we get older, the term “Fruits of the Spirit” feels like a Christianese phrase that is glossed over and never really thought about beyond that Sunday school lesson from decades ago. It’s kind of on the same level as the armor of God, or the Ten Commandments: really, it’s a foundational idea to the Christian walk, but it’s reviewed so often that we forget the precious values these things hold for us to spiritually mature past the Bible basics.

This weekend, I ran across a video from Jackie Hill Perry, an author, poet, and awesome teacher of the Word. She posted a live video in her car talking about the dangers of how we, as Christians, crave the power of God. Now it’s important to preface this whole devotion with this: asking God for His power is not bad in the slightest– something Jackie made overly clear as she was speaking. There is nothing wrong in asking God for the power to confront something, to overcome something, or so that He can receive the glory and honor from it. I guarantee, that’s something we’ve all done.

The day of Pentecost… In summary, a group of people gathers in one place, with one goal. Suddenly, God’s Spirit comes down and confuses their language. From there, the people scatter into the world. Does this remind you of a different Bible story? For me, I immediately go back to Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel. Think about it; a group of people gathered together with one goal– to build a city with a tower that reaches into the heavens– and God comes down to confuse their language and they end up scattered over the face of the Earth.

Have you ever read something in the Bible a hundred times and disregarded it as an insignificant detail? I can guarantee you have at some point or another and not even noticed you were doing it. Recently, I realized I was glossing over a Biblical detail that I thought was just an antiquated practice. You know what I mean; one of those “Bible things” that we just don’t do anymore because we have more sophisticated technology or cultures have changed and that little detail isn’t applicable anymore.