Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The second fruit of the spirit is joy. It must be pruned to be shared. Since it is a fruit of the spirit, it is not of the flesh.
The Greek word for joy here is chara. These are the biblical usages of that word.
- joy, gladness
- the joy received from you
- the cause or occasion of joy
- of persons who are one’s joy
The fruit of the spirit is received by others because it is pruned in us. The cause of our joy is the abiding presence of our Lord. We are His joy.
John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 17:13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Basking in the love of our Lord can be overwhelming and dealing with the light of truth has its effect. Gladness comes later, hopefully not too late. It can be confusing to a new born because the joy of the spirit is not seen by human emotions.
1 Thessalonians 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
We do not want to overwhelm those who have just been reborn. Patience is the fourth fruit of the spirit. That will come in time. If we do not have that fruit of the spirit ourselves, it is best to be aware of it in terms of how we treat the newcomers in the Lord.
My experience is that impatience held back my family’s acceptance of my salvation until more of those fruits of the spirit were pruned in my life. I wasn’t even aware of what I was doing. Part of that was because I came from a church background that did not have a discipleship program. One cannot teach what has not been taught.
What have you been taught? Who is teaching you?