“Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:23

For the second year in a row, Wesleyan has adopted a theme for the school year: The Fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul contrasts the fruit of the Spirit to the fruit of the flesh. Reading through his description of the fruit of the flesh, it leaves little doubt that the flesh produces a fruit that places the self at the center of all things. Envy, hatred, bitterness, discord, and other life-taking fruit mark the life of a person dominated by thoughts of the self. In contrast, a God-centered life produces fruit that is life-giving and desirable. If the fruit of the Spirit is so enticing and life-giving, then why do we not all bear this fruit? For most of us, it is because we seek to change in the wrong order. We act as though change takes place from the outside in. Like the guards in Alice in Wonderland, if we do not like what we see, we try to paint over it and in essence force the white roses to become red. We try to fix the problem by trying harder and being better as we seek a transformation from the outside in when authentic, Godly transformation takes place from the inside out. Scripture tells us that the change God desires for us is the mysterious result of the work of the Spirit and not of ourselves. In other words, no matter how much red paint we apply to white roses, the roses will always be white until new seeds are planted, nurtured, and cultivated to produce the bona fide red roses. God is the planter of this seed and our role is one of obedience to the process of cultivation as God does His miraculous work within us. As A.W. Tozer, wrote, “The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him.” So, as a school community, we are committing this year to gain a deeper understanding of the fruit of God’s Spirit in the hopes of coming to a clearer understanding of Godly love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

March Reflection

It seems challenging to think of faithfulness as a character trait of a person. Faithfulness as an action or as a description of behavior is easier to understand. But for faithfulness to be part of my very nature seems impossible – and for good reason. As addressed before, the fruit of the Spirit is about an inner transformation powered by a source beyond the ability and efforts of humans. In other words, transformation is the work God does within me to make me more like Him. And God’s faithfulness is not rooted in anything about us, but rather is at the very core of His nature. He is faithful because that is who He is. And Scripture attests to this nature and the blessed news for us that He cannot deny His own character. In 2 Timothy 2:13, we read that, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.”

What do we learn from this faithfulness? It is that His compassions never fail. His promise to be with us until the end of the ages is not a romantic ideal or a cursory assurance given in the heat of a moment. In contrast, this promise is made by the One whose very fabric consists of faithfulness and promises kept. In the midst of turmoil and confusion in our lives, it is easy to wonder about God’s faithfulness. It is natural to wonder about His promise as the life around us does not make sense. However, it is good to remember that God does not promise Christians a life void of suffering. In fact, He seems to promise the exact opposite when He tells His disciples to get ready for some hard times and the verse in Lamentations only reinforces this truth.

So if God’s faithfulness is not related to our comfort in life, then what is the significance of His faithfulness? I like to think it is the permanence of His love for His creation. In our modern culture, it is difficult to understand the permanence of this faithfulness. We hear of promises made, but almost live with the expectation that they will be broken. And when they are broken, we do not seem so surprised or even disappointed. Faithlessness has become the expectation and common thread to the human experience. Perhaps this is why selfishness and self-centeredness is the common attribute of most interactions. We live as though there will be no promises kept. Therefore, the wise thing to do is to get what we can while we can. However, the good news, or the news that brings us so much hope, is that God is faithful. And as we become more like Him, we become more capable to being faithful to both Him and to others regardless of the circumstances of life. And perhaps we can even extend the same promise we receive from God to the people we encounter when we provide compassions that never fail and mercies that are new with each morning. May we live by faith that God’s faithfulness is real and enduring!

We invite you to learn with us and pray for this theme to teach all of us more what it means to be made in the image of God and to have hope in Christ Jesus!

Month	Name	Scripture
August	Fruit of the Spirit	Galatians 5:22-23
September	Love	I John 4:8-9
October	Joy	Philippians 4:4
November	Peace	John 16:33
December	Patience	James 1:19-20
January	Kindness	Ephesians 4:32
February	Goodness	Luke 8:15
March	Faithfulness	Lamentations 3:22-23
April	Gentleness	Philippians 2:3
May	Self-control	I Corinthians 6:19