“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22

Practicing the Fundamentals

Fundamentals are a crucial part of every sport. To be a good basketball or soccer player, you need to be able to dribble and pass the ball. It’s quite difficult to play golf well without having a fundamentally sound swing and putting stroke or to play ice hockey without being able to skate. No matter what the sport, there are certain skills required to play it well.

For our walk with Christ, our fundamentals start with the Bible. It’s God’s story and His instructions to us. We are called to love our neighbors (Mark 12:31) and our enemies (Matthew 5:44), but how exactly do we do that? By practicing the fundamentals!

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul encourages them to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) by practicing the fruits of the Spirit. By demonstrating these Christ-like qualities when we interact with the people in our lives, we can spread God’s love to everyone we come in contact with.

Even the best athletes in the world still work on the fundamentals all the time. In the same way, we need to always be working on making the fruits of the Spirit part of our life so that we can continue to grow in our faith.

– Joshua Doering