Galatians 5:22, 23  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! (NLT)

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Conjunction Junction
What’s your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses

Schoolhouse Rock is still teaching me after all these years. It reminds me of facts and ideas I learned in front of our color television set when I was a preteen.

If you are younger than a certain age, you may not understand why I used the adjective “color.” Once upon a time, television was black and white, or more accurately, shades of gray. I remember when Dad bought our first color TV. It was a life-altering event. It was also a little fuzzy when we relied on an antenna before Bob Buford hooked up our hometown with cable TV.

Why the use of the word “set” after “television”? A “television set” was the name of the unique combination of features, such as viewing and hearing television broadcasts. This was made possible by a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, a set of features, if you will. 

All of this information helps us understand something about these Bible verses. While these verses help us understand what life in Christ, shaped by the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence, looks like, the conjunction “But” at the beginning helps us recognize what life apart from Christ and without the Spirit’s leadership looks like. 

Verse 19 begins, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, . . . .” The vice list goes on for a couple of more verses. You will recognize the bad behaviors and habits from your favorite television shows, political reports, and celebrity gossip. Sometimes, more than we prefer to admit, we see them much closer to home, and even in our own mirrors. 

But, this is not how it has to be. There is a better alternative. That’s where verses 22 and 23 come in. These verses give us nine character qualities that become sharper and clearer the longer we walk by the Spirit, and the closer we seek his daily and momentary guidance. 

Life in living color that masterfully reflects the character of God is possible for each one of us as we seek daily the filling, empowering, and controlling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Verse 16 says, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Verse 25 says, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

Living by the Spirit, following the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives makes us appear and behave like Jesus. This kind of life overflows with love that seeks the highest good for others. It exudes joy. It is patient and kind. It is good all the time, and all the time it is good. It is faithful and gentle, and does not require outside restraints to prevent it from causing harm. 

One of my core values arises from this list. I label this value with the two words, Anticipating Kindness. I explain it with two amplifying ideas. 

Anticipating Kindness because kindness is more powerful than strength in connecting hearts and minds. Anticipating Kindness is demonstrated by setting people at ease to develop and deepen relationships with God and with one another.

It is often helpful to have someone in mind who truly exemplifies the virtues we long to cultivate in our own lives. Kindness is easily seen in certain celebrities and entertainers across the years. Mr. Rogers comes to mind. Much more personally, a friend of mine quickly brings a smile to my heart when I ponder the meaning of kindness.

Hamish Buntain is a Christian leader in Canada. He has lived and served in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area for quite a while now. His influence extends from West Coast to East, and many points between. He has left his mark in various places in Texas, including Fort Worth. 

Hamish is unfailingly kind. 

He has answered the same questions, often from the same people, dozens of times without irritation. He has explained details again and again to a parade of groups over decades. He does so with each as if it were the first time for him to give these details. 

On one particular two-day period a decade or so ago, he drove two international companions all around Greater Vancouver in search of a place for leaders to gather for a series of retreats. I sat in the backseat, enjoying the conversation between Hamish and an often pugnacious young leader with an endless array of questions, challenges, and ideas. 

Hamish had to be physically and emotionally exhausted at the end of our two days together. Even so, his kindness extended beyond that man’s pushy conversation and opinionated reflections. 

On another occasion, these same two international companions arrived at a retreat center to help Hamish shape the hearts and minds of young leaders. The more outspoken companion arrived immediately after returning from Southeast Asia on a mission trip. He brought with him a rather nasty stomach bug that kept him in his retreat center room for the duration of the event.

The other guy, the one I see in the mirror day by day, lasted a good fifteen minutes in the first session before his back betrayed him, and he ended up spending the full retreat in his room, unable to walk farther than absolutely necessary. 

Of course, Hamish made sure his pair of Epaphrodituses (see Philippians 2:25-27) received meals, meds, and other comforts to survive their stays. Not only did he provide all we needed then, he actually invited us back and received us gladly when we accepted his invitation. 

I have never heard an unkind word from the lips of Hamish Buntain, even though my former coworker and I gave him multitudes of opportunities to do so. 

Anticipating Kindness is how I want Hamish to think of me because I always anticipate kindness from him. I want to be like Hamish when I grow up because he brings this attribute to life. He is living evidence of what Spirit-filled living looks like. 

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I will become more like Hamish who is more like Jesus than almost anyone I know. 

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Our Father, fill me, empower me, control me, use me. May everyone I meet anticipate kindness as your Spirit shapes everything I say and do. Amen.