The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

I find it interesting that nothing in this list is a specific action. It’s not, “The fruit of the Spirit is becoming a preacher,” or, “The fruit of the Spirit is raising obedient children,” or, “The fruit of the Spirit is writing books about God,” or, “teaching a Sunday school class,” or, “taking food to a neighbor once a month,” or, “singing songs that praise God every day,” or, “reading the Bible this many minutes a day,” or, “attending this many church services a week,” or, “mailing out encouraging cards to hurting people,” or, “volunteering at a homeless shelter,” or, “[insert any specific good thing you have ever felt pressured to do].”

This isn’t a reason for us get out of doing good things, but I think it’s a reason for us not to think we must do every kind of good thing ourselves.

Lives permeated with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control will bubble up into all sorts of good and righteous actions, but God is too big to be sufficiently imaged by one type of person. He does not ask his followers to all live identical lives, or even for one person to live the same way their entire life. His Spirit is perfectly capable of growing his wonderful fruit in all sorts of personalities and circumstances.

Sin is a problem in people’s lives; variety is not. If the person who sits next to you at church is doing life differently, it doesn’t necessarily mean one of you is doing it wrong. Instead, the two of you make a fuller picture of God than either of you could alone.