Reflecting God Through Good Manners

I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. Romans 1:13 (New Living Translation, NLT) emphasis mine

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! Galatians 5:22-23 (New Living Translation, NLT)

Nowhere in the Bible is rudeness listed as a fruit of the Spirit. As believers in Christ, we are to produce fruit, or observable evidence, that shows we are Christians. We see this fruit noted in Galatians 5. If you look at the fruit of the Spirit in common, everyday terms, you could describe it as having good manners. Expressing the fruit of the Spirit looks like politeness and courtesy. The terms “please” and “thank you” are never out of style for Christians.

Let’s see how the fruit of the Spirit translates into having good manners. Walking in love means to show courtesy and good manners to other people, preferring them before yourself. Being joyful results in pleasant words and happy tones of conversation. Peace produces a calm, unruffled attitude towards others. Patience allows us to wait on those around us, not becoming irritated when they cause delays or do things in a way that we do not like. Kindness is grace in action, being nice when others are not. Goodness means to do things to benefit others, with no evil or negative intent towards anyone. It means to thank people for what they do for us, even if they do it grudgingly. Faithfulness sticks with people when others would grow frustrated and leave. Gentleness means to handle difficult situations with kid gloves so as not to hurt anyone. Self-control gives us the ability to resist expressing ourselves or doing things in a way that would cause harm.

Of all the people in the world, Christians should be the ones with the best manners. We should prefer others over ourselves. We should reflect God in all we do and say. It is the goodness of God that draws people to Him (Romans 2:4). When we act rude and disrespectful like the rest of the world, we are representing God badly. Our negative behavior repels them away from God instead of drawing them to Him.

It is tempting to say things like, “I don’t want to be taken advantage of,” or “I am just protecting my rights.” To be perfectly honest, Christianity does not operate by rights. There is no Bill of Rights in the Scriptures. As believers in Jesus, we are to be like Him: self-sacrificing and humble. We don’t have to protect “our rights.” God will do it for us, if we remain humble. He is our Vindicator and He eventually rights all wrongs. So, make the choice to let go of the idea of rights, and choose to honor Christ by preferring others. Let’s reflect God to a rude and selfish world by demonstrating good manners.