What God Wants Us to Know: (Part 7): Connection Between "Abundant Life" and "Fruit of the Spirit"

Next, what would be the observable traits of a person who had for some time actually attempted to put Jesus' teachings into practice and had grown in spirit, experiencing more and more of the abundant life and the state of being which Jesus called, "Blessed"? What would the world witness as the "fruit" of such a person?

 God speaking through Paul the Apostle provided the answer:

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Romans 14:17

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Galatians 5:22-23

What is the kingdom of God? Surely, God wants you to know. Here we see that at least part of the answer is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Now we can see Jesus' teachings fitting together, harmonizing and building upon each other. The fruit of he spirit, the state of being called "blessed" and the kingdom of God are connected and related. If there was a way to dissolve all anxiety, all fear, all anger and replace them with feelings of unconditional love, peace and joy, gentleness and goodness wouldn't we actually be experiencing and outwardly demonstrating nothing less than the "fruit of the spirit"? Wouldn't we be experiencing the state of being which Jesus described as "blessed", a state of incomparable bliss? Would we not then have entered into the kingdom of God?

In the entire Bible is their a better, more descriptive explanation of what it would be like to experience our true spiritual nature than the "fruit of the spirit" provided by Paul in Galatians?. Doesn't it make sense that as we learn and apply Jesus' teachings; we not only begin to actually experience the love, joy and peace but we also begin to manifest, to demonstrate the "fruit of the spirit" to the world as Jesus did.

While we may not necessarily manifest the fruit of the spirit to the fullness that Jesus manifested it, nonetheless we can manifest it to a sufficient degree to have a marked positive effect on others and on the world. Imagine a world with millions of people manifesting the fruit of the spirit at even a fraction of what Jesus did.

Unconditional love  Now if we look a bit closer, we can see a connection between the kingdom of God, the state of being which Jesus called "blessed" and the "fruit of the Spirit" to Jesus himself. Didn't Jesus truly and completely exemplify every one of the "fruit of the Spirit"? Take your time and carefully read the three verses below. Was not Jesus a perfect example of unconditional love? Wasn't Jesus' most fervent wish that his joy might be our joy? Jesus is the Prince of Peace, he epitomized unconditional peace. Can you think of a more perfect example of love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control than Jesus?

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends John 15:13

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full .John 15:11

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth , give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled , neither let it be afraid John 14:27

So Jesus was the perfect example of one who actually experienced the kingdom of God who experienced the state of being "blessed" and actually manifested the fruit of the spirit. But what is the connection to "unconditional love"?

If Jesus has one "master" commandment upon which the "good news of the kingdom of God hinged, it is surely "love". Jesus taught love of God and love of neighbor as the greatest commandments (Mark 12:30) and if that wasn't enough he emphasized the commandment to love twice again when he said,

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another John 13:35

Now within these verses is an easily overlooked qualification that makes all the difference for a follower of Christ. Jesus didn't merely direct us to love one another as humans love (conditional love), instead he commanded us to love in a way which is quite different and much more pure and profound pure than human love. Jesus qualified the love we are to give one another when he added the phrase, "as I have loved you", in other words unconditionally. Clearly learning to love as Jesus loves us is a major element of the process of growing in spirit and a major requirement for entering the kingdom of God.