A friend of mine was facing a series of difficult issues—finances, employment, relationships, health, and so on. He asked me to pray for him. I said I would, but I also said that I would pray that he would be filled with God’s Spirit and have all the fruit that goes with that.

Of course, the response from someone in those circumstances might be, “Never mind that. I’ll work on my spiritual life later. I need help with these urgent issues right now.” It is hard to think of spiritual issues when we have other pressing concerns. It is hard to consider God’s agenda when we are wrestling mightily with our own agenda.

But the two areas are not mutually exclusive. Imagine someone who is overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22-26). Any employer would be thrilled to have an employee like that in the workplace. And anybody would be thrilled to be in a relationship with such a person. As well, such a person would have no inner stress, which is often a factor in many health issues. We are told not to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. That is a useful reminder. Yet, often it is the people who are heavenly minded who do the most earthly good. Jesus taught us to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” and promised that if we do that, “all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).