I remember the instructions on many a firework from family Guy Fawkes nights: ‘Light the blue touch-paper and retire immediately’.
Short fuses can be dangerous and closeness to explosives is always hazardous. I have sometimes thought that there are Christians who should carry similar ‘health and safety’ warnings, ‘Danger — high explosives!’ But the fruit of the Spirit we are considering this month is the exact opposite — it is ‘patience’, often translated ‘long-suffering’.
Manifestations of love
The nine evidences of the life of the Holy Spirit, within the Christian, are listed for us in Galatians 5.22-23. Each of them should be seen as a manifestation of love, which is the first and greatest fruit of the Spirit, and that is because God himself is love. The first three in Paul’s list deal with our relationship with God (love, joy, peace), but the next group of three focus more on our relationships with others, and long-suffering is the first example.
