The fruit of the Spirit is…peace.
Peace is almost as hot of a commodity in pop-culture as love. The right answer to the pageant question is "world peace." the cry amidst the political conflict is "peace.” The bumper sticker reads “No Christ. No peace. Know Christ. Know Peace.”
So what are we talking about when speaking of the spirit's fruit of peace? What is God, by His Spirit, seeking to cultivate in the life of His children?
Before we zoom in on specifics lets pan out and make note of some generals. When the Bible speaks of peace it speaks in a multi-faceted way. There is the peace that God makes with us in Christ. There is the peace that God gives to us so that we can have a divinely-given calmness and restfulness amidst all circumstances. Then, most relevantly to our topic, is the peace that God calls us to. The calling to peace is captured in one of the beatitudes “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” In essence, the God of peace calls us to be agents of peace.
So the fruit of peace that the Spirit wants to cultivate in our life is this: a striving to live in harmony and unity with others through constant forgiveness and reconciliation.
The Psalmist praises the pleasantness of the fruit of peace in the opening of Psalm 133:
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”
You can hear Paul's earnest call to the Church to actively pursue peace in Ephesians 4:3:
“Be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Also, later in Ephesians 4:32, Paul tells us about the primary tool for maintaining and mending peace:
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Harmony and unity, in this life, is not a destination that you arrive at but something you must actively maintain and mend. Why does it require constant maintenance? Because we are often peace-breakers rather than peace-makers. Instead of cultivating the fruit of peace-making, we allow the weeds of peace-breaking to grow.
When wronged by another instead of pursuing reconciliation, we can allow bitterness and anger to simmer in our hearts toward that person. In a disagreement with another instead of listening carefully and speaking softly, we can flare up and become contentious and quarrelsome. Often reconciliation and the restoration of peace is a simple matter of saying “You're right, I was wrong.” Which turns out to be a not so simple matter for our pride.
This is why we need to constantly humble ourselves before the God of peace and confess our sin of peace-breaking. Here is a prayer to help you do that:
Our Heavenly Father,
Forgive us for the ways that we have failed to bear the fruit of peace. Pardon us for the ways in which we have been peace-breakers. Forgive us for the times that we have stubbornly refused to restore peace and seek reconciliation with others. Give us an eagerness to maintain the bond of peace in Your Church and to live peaceably with all.
In the Name of Christ we pray, Amen.
Having confessed our sin of peace breaking, we need to them cling to the peace that we have with God in Christ:
Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:1,8-9)
Dwelling deeply on the peace that we have through the Gospel of christ, greatly aids the cultivation of the Spirit’s fruit of peace.
