Scripture: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25 (NKJV)
As a parent there is nothing more miserable than seeing your children hurt, upset or discouraged. My son loves basketball. From the time the boy could walk, literally, he has had a basketball in his hand and a smile on his face. He has participated in other sports, but nothing tickles his fancy like a ball and a hoop. As a 3-year-old he was a gifted basketball player, but as he grew the phenomenon kind of subsided and he really just developed a love for the game.
Now at age 14 he plays for the freshman team, but has realized that he is not a naturally gifted athlete. He has to work really hard to gain favor with the coach and all those neat little nuances of the game that he loves do not come as natural to him as some of the other players. The poetry some athletes make with ease, he has to really study to write. Fortunately for him he likes his teammates and the coach and has had a good time playing freshman ball this year.
Tonight however was the last home game of the season and with friends and relatives watching the game he sat the bench. And sat the bench. And sat the bench. He did not get to play even one minute. I knew he would be disappointed and so was I, but he came straight in and went to bed without one word except good night. I was so sorrowful as I know it made him angry and frustrated. I talked to God about it and asked Him to teach Wyatt something important as I have said many times there are important things you can learn on the bench that you can't
learn in the game.
Then all of a sudden it clicked for me. You can't acquire the fruit of God's spirit playing basketball. You can only get it sitting on the bench!
- Love: Learning to love people (the coach) when you are not treated fairly.
- Joy: Learning to experience joy when you have a sad or angry emotion over your circumstances.
- Peace: Learning to find peace within when you have inner turmoil.
- Longsuffering (patience): Learning to wait on the things you really want and persevering until you see those things happen or even if you do not see those things happen.
- Kindness: Learning to show encouragement and support even when you are discouraged
and disappointed. - Goodness: Learning to be respectful to people even when they do not deserve it.
- Faithfulness: Learning to be dependable and supportive even if people are not faithful and trustworthy.
- Gentleness: Learning to not let your anger change the way you treat people.
- Self-control: Learning how to be a good sport even when you are angry, upset, and disappointed and really want to hit, scream, stomp, cry, and act like a spoiled little brat. (no matter how entitled you think you might be)
We live in a world that is not fair. This world is full of people who are not faithful and do not treat people nicely. We can't always have our way. People will always disappoint us. Winning and things going perfectly is not always going to happen. In fact more often than not our plans are spoiled by circumstances beyond our control. Somehow in the midst of that we have to display the character of Christ! God help us!
I can clearly see now that as much as I love my children and want to see them happy and successful, God knows better than me what they need. I want to see Wyatt rewarded for
working hard and get to play basketball and win and love it all at the same time, but more than that (much more than that) I want to see him develop the character of Christ. So really he needs
to learn how to sit the bench. It is on the bench where the fruit of God's spirit grows in us. What bench are you sitting on right now? Thank God that He has put you there!
Leslie Stephens
McMinnville, TN
Prayer: Almighty God, you always have our best interest in mind. Teach us how to sit on the bench of difficulty and adversity bearing all things with the fruit of your Spirit. We want to be more like Jesus, Coach us! Amen.
Prayer Tip: If you have not thanked God for whatever you are going through, do that right now. We need to be content and trust that God is at work in all things to bring about our faith and his glory. Praise him when you feel like fussing and crying!
