But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
When you choose the Spirit living within you rather than the flesh, you get a completely different set of behaviors. Rather than a set of behaviors centered on yourself, you get a set of behaviors seeking the best for others. The law of God can be summarized in two statements, loving God and loving others. When you choose the Spirit over the flesh to rule your life, you get the Spirit working out the law of God. The first of the fruits of the Spirit, love, can be said to summarize the rest. The next fruit is joy. The Spirit is glad to serve others and to serve God. Peace and patience seem to go together. Patience, by definition, means there is something irritating you are putting up with. When you bear with the faults or quirks of others, you sow peace. Kindness can be thought of as doing good for others and not expecting anything in return. Goodness is a translation of a word that is used in the Bible to describe things that are useful, desirable, and productive. Faithfulness emphasizes walking in accordance to believing and trusting what God says is true. In essence, you have an external rather than internal focus. You look to God to see how you should live, and live in that manner to benefit others, rather than seeking to satisfy your appetites by your circumstances. Rather than asserting superiority, someone who is gentle wants to help others, even when they have been done wrong. Self-control is a particularly interesting word to end a list of other-centered behaviors. When you choose the Spirit, you control the self. Instead of being controlled by your appetites, you live out your values. Believers have a choice how they walk. Although each believer lives by the Spirit, they are still free to choose how to walk. Believers can walk by the Spirit, or walk in the flesh. The most logical thing to do is to use your freedom to love, and walk by the Spirit. When you live a self-centered life, it is natural to compare yourself to others. The natural result is to either pronounce yourself as superior and boast or to be envious. Best thing to do is reject the path of sinful and selfish desires. Instead, you should walk by the Spirit, not the passions and desires of the flesh.
Spiritual Steve 