During the past few weeks I have been wondering as Christians and as the Body of Christ, how should we live out our faith in the midst of this scary pandemic we are all going through? Well, we do not have to go through this on our own. We who know and love Jesus have been given “the Fruit of the Spirit”. That fruit is readily available to us, given in and through the Holy Spirit Himself. We may and can use this fruit to show the world what we believe and whom we serve. These are the weapons He has given us “so that they may see Jesus."

1. LOVE: Boy could we use a lot of that. Towards our neighbors, each other, to strangers we happen to meet, and even towards the “oppositions."

2. JOY: Well, who couldn’t use some joy right now? Let’s not lose our sense of humor. We need to keep smiling and spread the joy.

3. PEACE: Now is the time to be spreaders of “Shalom” for all the needy folks around us.

4. KINDNESS: As the song says, “Try a Little Kindness.” People will see Jesus when we are just plain kind to them, even to those people we don’t really like.

5. PATIENCE: Our patience will be tested in the midst of the pandemic but Jesus says, ‘lean on me and rest.’ We need to show that to others.

6. GOODNESS: Of all things, we need to be good to people, because goodness is the character of God.

7. FAITHFULNESS: Show the world that we trust in God in and through all our trials. Tell the world that this is what is going to get us through.

8. GENTLENESS: This is the gift we use to show compassion and love to those who are the most vulnerable among us.

9. SELF-CONTROL: This is really God-control. If we can receive God’s thoughts through and in the Holy Spirit, we can use these Holy Spirit gifts to live Jesus to the world around us in the midst of a scary pandemic time

So there we have it, the “Fruit of the Spirit,” our gift from Him to help spread Jesus to a needy world that is looking for hope. Let’s use the gift and live Jesus in a world that so desperately needs HIM.