A Second Set of Twins

Many years ago while visiting New York City, I attended the Brooklyn Tabernacle church one Sunday morning. The pastor, Jim Cymbala, preached a message which has stuck with me to this day. Essentially, the message was about the importance of the “twin” virtues patience and kindness – referred to as twins because they frequently show up together in the Bible, in places such as:

• 1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant…”

• Galatians 5:22 ESV: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…”

• Colossians 3:12 ESV: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…”

• 2 Corinthians 6:4-6 ESV: “…but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance in afflictions…by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love…”

His bigger point was that patience and kindness are evidence of the Spirit as much or more than the performance of miracles or other impressive or large accomplishments. He told a story of an old preacher who was harsh and impatient with people. His followers claimed this was evidence of his holiness, as he was too important and consecrated to be bothered by ordinary people and their trivial matters. But Mr. Cymbala said even if you can raise the dead, if you have no patience or kindness you aren’t walking in the Spirit.

Recently, it struck me that there is a second pair of qualities that go together just as well as patience and kindness do and are just as universal, being beneficial to anyone, anywhere. While patience and kindness could be thought of as evidence of the Spirit, I would say this second set of “twins” are more like attitudes of the heart which make it possible for the Spirit to grow and for one to live a peaceful, spiritual life. This second set of twins are gratitude and acceptance. I see these as the active and passive parts of a single thing, with gratitude as: “the active appreciation for one’s circumstances and experiences,” and acceptance as: “A state of passive non-resistance to one’s circumstances and experiences.” Gratitude cultivates joy, while acceptance cultivates peace. The apostle Paul said peace and joy are not only fruits of the Spirit,1 but the literal embodiment of the Kingdom of God, writing: “…the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”2

Speaking more practically, I think we absolutely must be honest with ourselves if we want to live in the Kingdom of God and experience its peace and joy. If these characteristics of the Kingdom aren’t evident in and through us, we must ask: “why not?” Is God holding the Spirit back from us? I don’t think so. Holding back something good doesn’t seem like extravagant love or grace to me. Does our modern society or a bad home or work environment prevent Spiritual growth? I don’t think this is correct either for many reasons, including the fact there has always been wickedness on earth and there are millions of examples to prove one’s outward circumstances do not determine one’s inward state. So if God isn’t holding back and we can’t blame our environment, maybe we need to look closer to home. In one of his parables, Jesus taught that although God’s word (the expression of His nature) is given to all, it requires an honest/beautiful/inspiring/good heart and perseverance to enable it to grow and produce a crop.3 So, if we care about spiritual fruit, wouldn’t it be wise for us to check the “soil” of the attitudes of our heart where the fruit actually grows!? What if, as those made in the image of God, WE have tremendous influence, beyond what we often realize? Could our choice of the attitudes of our heart literally enable the inward Kingdom of peace and joy to flourish OR cause it to remain dormant? If so, that is tremendous power indeed. The Kingdom of God is spiritual and inward, which then influences the outward. So, if we want to see God’s nature of love and peace expressed on earth, as was the aim of Jesus himself, our focus and highest priority should be on ensuring our inward state is the most conducive to peace and joy, and I believe gratitude and acceptance are central to this.

I am not trying to put guilt on anyone here, including myself. There’s really nothing to be guilty for; we are all human and dealing with various traumas and programming, and love can wreck the false identities and habits we have built. It’s also true that our outward environment and circumstances DO affect us, as we have physical bodies in a physical world. Maybe, like me, you are wondering how gratitude and acceptance fit in with terrible things such as a bad toothache, chronic disease, betrayal by a loved one, or abuse? There is no question some circumstances and experiences are much harder to be grateful for and accepting of. Additionally, gratitude and acceptance do NOT mean we cannot work to change our circumstances. By all means: get a tooth pulled, distance yourself from an abusive person, get out of the fire if you can. Yet even in the midst of pain and confusion, we can choose for our heart to remain open to the goodness of the Spirit and we can accept the painful experience as it is, choosing to learn and grow from it rather than resist it and push it away. In doing so, I believe it is possible to experience joy and peace at literally every moment and season of life – even painful ones. Isn’t having an open heart so much better than a resistant and resentful one which feeds bitterness, jealousy, anger and suffering?

I realized that gratitude and acceptance are all about honoring life, creation and existence itself, which the Spirit of God is the foundation of. Therefore, these attitudes cultivate the Spirit’s presence within and allow for you to express it in the world. This then sets the stage for even greater and deeper joy and peace to come – not just for you, but by extension for your whole sphere of influence, which at least in a small way I believe encompasses the entire universe. I challenge us to make cultivating the state of our heart among our highest priorities, working and practicing to keep an open heart of gratitude and acceptance as consistently as we can. As we do, I believe we will see greater fruit than we have ever seen before. Amen!

1. Galatians 5:22
2. Romans 14:17
3. Luke 8:4-15