The Gateway Characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit

Most of us have heard of the term “gateway drug”. It is used in reference to drugs that may not be so harmful to our body as others, but that as we become addicted to them, they leave us wanting more. So we start using more potent drugs in order to meet that craving. They become the “gateway” to other bigger/better(?)/stronger things.

Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
1 Corinthians 13:13 – And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I’ve decided that some of the characteristics of the fruit of the spirit are in fact “gateway characteristics” that lead us toward faith, hope, and ultimately love. I’m sure the analogy doesn’t go very far. Are love, joy, and faithfulness really any better than the other characteristics? Maybe they are according to Paul. Maybe its not that they are better, its just that they are a little bit harder for me to achieve. Maybe love, true love the way God loves, should be our ultimate goal. I discussed how agape love seems so out of reach in this post. But Christ’s command to us is to love. John 13:35 – By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. “Love one another”, “Love your neighbor”, and the dreaded “Love your enemies” show up over and over in the bible.

Beth Moore had an interesting thought when we studied patience a couple weeks ago. Maybe those people we have trouble being patient around were put there on purpose (by God, not the devil). Maybe we need those trials, over and over again, until we have learned how to respond differently (with patience). Maybe it brings up other qualities that we should be removing from our life. The process of bringing those up may be painful, but it allows God to skim them off the top and refine us, ultimately turning us into beautiful gold. As long as those nasty characteristics are still down deep, they can’t be removed. Could this idea also be true of the other characteristics of the fruit? Probably.

What about love be the gateway for other characteristics? Maybe each of us have characteristics that we struggle with and we could learn how to exhibit them through the other ones. In my case, I can only think of two people in the whole world that I loved (emotionally) prior to getting to know them, my children. In that area I do have more patience, more joy, more kindness. However, I don’t think that it would be as easy for me to love anyone else first. I think I’m going to have to use some gateway characteristics on my road to learning how to agape. Maybe I need to be a little bit more patient with my coworkers, or show a little more kindness to my neighbors. Maybe in the course of walking in the Spirit in these other areas, I can learn to love the people I come in contact with more fully and more easily.

Here’s to recognizing the opportunities I have to walk in the Spirit and learning from the times I do not.