I’ve been thinking a lot about this well-known passage, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Particularly the phrase, “against such things there is no law.” What a beautiful thought! “There is no law.” There’s not a man-made law or a God-made law against these qualities. There are lots of things which God has prohibited or on which He has put limits. But on these things, there is no limit. There is no restriction. There are no boundaries! What a beautiful, beautiful concept!
This means…
1. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too loving. Don’t get angry with Christians who talk too much about, “LOVE.” There is no restrictions on love. There is no law against love. The love of Christians is to run deep and wide! There is no limit on who we can love, or the amount of love we can give and show to them. Love, as defined by God’s word (1 Corinthians 13), should be personified by every child of God!
2. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too joyful. Don’t be annoyed by those who are excited, passionate, and joyful! Don’t roll your eyes at those who are whistling a tune on Monday mornings! That’s the way we should all be! Don’t try to rain on their parade; there is no law against joy!
3. There is no such thing as a Christian who knows or makes too much peace. War is never a good thing. Sometimes it is necessary, but it is never good! God never intended for there to be wars, death, and destruction. Never glory in war. Don’t delight in the destruction of your enemies. Even when war is necessary, it should be heart wrenching. Christians are to be people of peace; people who promote peace and make peace! There is no such thing as a Christian who is too peaceful!
4. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too patient. First, realize that there is a difference between patience and tolerance. But, a Christian parent cannot be TOO patient. A Christian spouse cannot be TOO patient. A Christian cannot be TOO patient as he waits in line! A Christian cannot be TOO patient as he drives his car. Remember this the next time your patience is being tested! Don’t lose your patience, strive for more!
5. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too kind. You can never be too nice to people. You can never have your words be seasoned with too much grace. You can never be too sweet in the way you deal with people who are rude to you. There is never a time when you’ve been too kind to someone.
6. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too good. The world thinks you can go overboard with being good. They think it is extreme to want to be good all the time. I just wish I was good all the time. Let’s all acknowledge the fact that there really is no such thing as being TOO good! Even Jesus, who was PERFECT, was not TOO good! He was what all of us should be!
7. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too faithful. Similarly, there is no such thing as being TOO faithful. You can’t have too much trust in God. You can’t believe God or believe in God too much. You can’t be too loyal or obedient to God. There is no such thing as taking your faithfulness to unhealthy extreme!
8. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too gentle. Remember this when dealing with others. You can’t be TOO gentle. You can be too rough and harsh, but you can never be too gentle!
9. There is no such thing as a Christian who is too self-controlled. I think it is interesting (and sad) that so many people seem to think indulgence is a Christian virtue; it’s not! Self-control is a Christian virtue. You can never be too self-controlled. It is a guarantee that God will not say to you on the Day of Judgement, “You know, you really should have let yourself go a little more. You shouldn’t have been so self-controlled.” People in the world might encourage you to have less self-control, but God never will! You can never take self-control to an unhealthy extreme!
You can take a lot of things to an unhealthy extreme. You can be too “radical” in some things. But against love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control there is NO law! So live it up; be as loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled as you can possibly be! Don’t worry, you can’t go overboard! Just something to think about!
I love you and a wonderful God loves you,
