Living as God's GirlSample

What is God like? 

The Bible tells us that Jesus came to show us God’s love. When we see Jesus loving people, forgiving them, and accepting them into His family, we can know that Jesus is showing us what our heavenly Father is like.

The Bible also describes God’s personality by listing some of His character traits. These same character traits can grow in us—just like fruit grows on a tree—because God’s Spirit lives in us. That’s why these characteristics are called the fruit of the Spirit. 

Now, before you start thinking we’re talking about apples and strawberries, let me explain. Do you know what some of the fruit of the Spirit are?

The fruit of the Spirit are not just nice words that describe God—they are actually who God is. In other words, God is love. God is joy. God is peace. God is patience. God is kindness. God is goodness. God is faithfulness. God is gentleness, and God is self-control.

And because this is who God the Father is, it is also who Jesus is. And because this is who God the Father is and who Jesus is, this is who the Holy Spirit is and who the Holy Spirit helps you to become. Get it?

Let me put it this way. If you are saying yes to God, then this fruit is growing in you. He wants to grow all of His characteristics in you. He wants you to be full of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Love

I’m sure you’ve told someone—Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, your BFF—you love them. You probably say, “Love you!” almost every day. And you know all of us love to hear that we’re loved! From time to time you probably also say, “I love that!”—and “that” can be a restaurant, a movie, a dog breed, a band, or even a teacher. “Love” is a popular word, and we use it all the time when we’re talking about all kinds of things. Do we really love sleeping in on Saturday morning the same way we love Mom? Do we love the smell of the ocean the way we love God?

Often when we think of love, we think of pink hearts, red roses, kind words, and big hugs. We also think of people who make us smile, places we like to visit, or our favorite foods to eat. All those things are awesome, but saying that we love them doesn’t give us a clear or accurate picture of what love is.

You see—and as you’ve probably noticed—it’s not always easy to love people. And if we’re saying yes to God, we need to learn how to love people even when we don’t want to or we don’t feel like it.

God asks us to show His love to others every minute of every day. That means that at several points throughout the day, we can choose to love or not to love. We can say yes, or we can say no. Saying yes to showing love is not always easy, but I want you to think about Jesus. Remember how much He loves us? And He loves us no matter what, right? Well, God wants to help us love like that too. And with His help, we can!