‘But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!’ Galatians 5:22-23(NLT)
‘Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ‘ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8(NLT)
‘In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.’ 2 Peter 1:5-7(NLT)
Eating is a wonderful part of our lives. I love going to restaurants that serve meals created with excellence. It does not matter if it is a burger, filet mignon, French fries, or lobster, if it is done with excellence, I really enjoy the effort, sacrifice, wisdom, and creativity it takes to serve such an item.
Why am I talking so much about food in this marriage plan? Good question! In a marriage of several decades, you “eat” (so to speak) so much of what your spouse is serving during the marriage.
Your spouse’s service toward you is impactful on your life but the nourishment itself can be anywhere on the spectrum, from awful—even toxic—to amazing and fortifying. The fruit from your spouse’s attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and motivations are all foods you get served every day.
It is our responsibility to be aware of the food we are feeding our spouses. We are also responsible for what our food says about the kind of servant we really are toward the one we said we would love, honor, and cherish.
As I am working with a food analogy, I want to take you to a familiar scripture that also utilizes a food analogy to make its point on how we are to live a Christian life. Look at Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV): “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faith- fulness, gentleness and self-control.”
This Holy Spirit in us bears identifiable fruit. Through the Spirit, this fruit can flow through us at any time as we allow Him to be expressed in our lives. Being a servant in your marriage is not about trying to produce a better you, but about walking in the Spirit of God, giving His fruit to your spouse.
We are the conduits of His Spirit and His fruits toward our spouse. Remember, the conduit does not eat its own fruit. Neither does it benefit from the fruit. The tree does not eat its own fruit; others do. The fruit of the Spirit is to be served to our spouses so they can experience God’s fruit in our lives.
I know it might sound ambitious, but we can move toward the goal of giving good fruit or food to our spouse—the kind of fruit that comes from the Spirit and nourishes them. An intentionally well-fed spouse is in better condition than one not fed on a regular basis.
from Living a Servant Marriage