Reading with Purpose

This year at school we have done something a little different in elementary chapel. The focus has been on the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5. In the past we have just read through the stories of Genesis or the Gospels every other year. But this year, we have picked a different book of the Bible for each of the Fruit of the Spirit. We started the year in August focusing on “love” in the book of 1 John. 

September’s focus was joy and we studied the book of Philippians because of the amount of times Paul talked about joy and rejoicing. October was on peace and so we studied through Ephesians because of the peace we have found in Christ. We studied the story of Joseph in November because of the way he lived his life with patience. December, very fittingly, was a celebration of kindness. For that month we looked at the book of Colossians. 

When we came back from the winter break in January, our focus turned to goodness and so we looked through various Psalms that illustrated God’s goodness and the life he encourages for us. February focused on faithfulness by studying through the book of James and this month is on gentleness. I chose 1 Peter as the book on gentleness because of the transformation I believe we can see of the Apostle Peter. In the gospels he was outspoken, impulsive, and maybe a bit abrasive. By the time he writes 1 Peter it seems the Spirit of God has brought him wisdom and a little more gentleness in the way he views life. These studies have been a lot of fun to find ways to study these books with kids from 1st grade to 5th Grade. 

I hope that they are learning a lot from it, but it has been interesting to me to read those letters/books with a focus in mind. Those are not the only themes or topics you could glean from reading each of them, but it certainly helps you to see how the words of the letters can really focus in on the Spirit’s work in our lives. For instance, we have talked about God’s faithfulness to us in difficult times and how our faithfulness keeps us steadfast during trials (James 1:2-4). Faithfulness is also evident in our asking God for wisdom (1:5-8; 12-15) and in understanding that every good gift comes from our faithful God (1:17-18). James 1:19-20 discusses listening and being slow to anger. Those actions reveal our faithfulness but also our self-control. 

So, we cannot limit these passages to simply one element of the Fruit of the Spirit or Biblical concept, but let me encourage you to read with the Fruit of the Spirit in mind as you do your daily reading and see if you notice any ways in which God is encouraging those elements in your life. If you aren’t currently reading through the Bible right now then pick out a book in the Bible (maybe from the list above) and see if you can find how the fruit of the Spirit is illustrated within it. You might find some very specific encouragement for your personal walk of faith. 

Ben