8 Best Things to Stock Up On

The fear of scarcity rattled us early on when the Coronavirus hit. Empty shelves mocked us, churned us, and prompted us to stock up on what we could, sadly at the expense of others. But rooted in our attempts to buffer our fear was narrow, self-focused attention. As numbers rise again and we face a fresh wave of not-knowing, let’s leave some toilet paper and cleaning supplies for our neighbors and stock up instead on things that will last.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we find a list of qualities well worth cultivating in our life. These are the best things worth pursuing, and unlike grocery store items, there is no limit listed. Missional living means that we are cultivating lives worth imitating through being proximate to Jesus, and simultaneously inviting others to be proximate to us so the things God is working out in our own lives can ripple out beyond us. When we stock up on these best things, they become the DNA in the ripples we create. Let’s read these verses from The Passion Translation:  

But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:

joy that overflows,

peace that subdues,

patience that endures,

kindness in action,

a life full of virtue,

faith that prevails,

gentleness of heart, and

strength of spirit

Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.

All eight of the qualities listed are rooted in love. In fact, they each describe true love. We will unpack them in order, bearing in mind that together they unveil a life marked by love and are authored by none other than God Himself.

Missional living has at its heart love reflective of the way God loves each of us. We start and end here, and wrap everything we do and say round and round and round again with love. It’s the ribbon for the bow and the glue that binds everything together.

Yet this love is not something we can conjure up ourselves, no matter how diligently we might try. On our own, we cannot adequately reflect our Maker. We need Him near, His Spirit within. To find the best things to stock up on we go to Him open, surrendered, and expectant.

Let’s start with the first of the eight fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians.

1. Joy that overflows

This is joy that cannot be contained. It fills up the space within than erupts into the space beyond. It’s joy that doesn’t bend to the fear that runs rampant through media, social media, and small talk. This joy fills us with hope that there can be another way—that we can rise above circumstances, even those we cannot control.

Joy and gratitude walk hand-in-hand, inseparable as best friends. When we give thanks we find we are given joy, as Ann Voskamp contemplates in One Thousand Gifts. She writes:

Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.

Only through Him can we find this deep, residing joy, and giving Him our thanks opens our eyes to be able to see it.

2. Peace that subdues

Peace is like a mother-tongue to me. I am a nine on the Enneagram, and the most common descriptor for Nines is Peacemaker. I want to feel at rest on the inside, and I prefer peace to likewise pervade the space I’m in. Conflict, especially having to address it, is like fingers on a chalkboard to me. I want everyone to be happy and get along, and I most certainly never want to be the one to insert my opinion in a way that disrupts the peace.

I’m learning, though, that the truest peace is beyond my ability to create or maintain. The peace that follows the whisper of the Holy Spirit is quiet but strong, soft but unshakeable. Like joy, it’s not dependent on the circumstances that rapid-swirl around us.

John 14:27 spells it out:

I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!

Instead of letting fear and worry push us around, filling our shopping carts with surplus high-demand items, let’s invite God to make His home within. When we stock up on peace that He alone brings, the things that don’t bring peace are subdued and His voice becomes easier to hear.

3. Patience that endures

Patience is one of those things we wish had had more of, but we’d like the microwave version. The slow, steady work of the Holy Spirit within that produces patience can look appalling. As Joyce Meyer points out,

Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.

Patience is something internal. It’s the stance of our hearts.

To find enduring patience, we must begin to see God in the moments and places in our lives that He is not apparent to the naked eye. We look deeper, aided by the Holy Spirit, to see how He is worthy of our overflowing thanks even in the moments that are messy and pain-filled. God’s Spirit alone can grow enduring patience inside us, but we must press in close to let the roots go deep.

4. Kindness in action

Practical acts of kindness are often visible, but they too must begin on the inside or we will eventually find our reservoir of kindness a dry well. The kindness produced by the Spirit is an overflow of His work in our lives. When kindness endeavors become largely theoretical or are rooted in an intent to earn our worth, let’s hit pause and find ourselves again in Him.

If we operate out of first knowing the way God sees us, showing kindness to others will become a normal rhythm. 1 John 4:11 begins with an acknowledgement of how loved we are. Let’s read it together:

Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then ‘loving one another’ should be our way of life!

Our kindness can be limitless—a way of life—but it’s produced by the Spirit of God not through our own efforts.

5. A life full of virtue

It can be easy to begin doing all the things to create in ourselves a life worth modeling to others. We long to impact those around us, leading by example, calling out the best in others. Yet the virtues we are encouraged to stock up on are not ones we can develop apart from God. We find it explained in the second half of 1 John 3:10:

Anyone who does not demonstrate righteousness and show love to fellow believers is not living with God as his source.

The path to a life full of virtue leads us deeper, ever deeper into Jesus. Only then can we live lives truly worth replicating.

6. Faith that prevails

Faith seems especially relevant for today because so much of what we have been used to has been stripped away. We step into each morning feeling the weight of uncertainty. Mental health is a hot topic. All around us we see discouragement climbing and hope waning.

Faith gives us different eyes—eyes to see the yet unseen. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5:7,

We live by faith, not by what we see with our eyes.

Our confidence is in the only One unshakable, the only One worthy of our complete trust. The more time we spend with Him, the more our hearts will know beyond doubt that He is present with us through all the things before us. And our knowing then ripples out to others who are observing the way we choose faith even when we fear.

7. Gentleness of heart

Gentleness, as with the other fruits of the Spirit, is evidence of what is inside our hearts. When we know God’s tender love for us, we naturally begin to esteem those around us. Our words soften and we lead, not by vying our way up to the top, but gently and with humility. I love the words of Saint Francis de Sales to describe gentleness:

Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength.

Offering gentle words in the midst of a pandemic makes a bigger impact than fearful words both forced and loud.

8. Strength of Spirit

Our inner strength is put to the test when our life is turned upside-down. We leak our true colors when the tears run down our faces. But when we are weakest is when we can most surely know that He is strongest. The Apostle Paul faced far worse than anything I’ve experienced, yet still he says in 1 Corinthians 12:10,

So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.

Our weakness “becomes a portal to God’s power.” That’s one worth remembering! It’s not up to us to be resilient; we can stock up God’s strength, adopt it as our own.

Maybe you’ve felt a little weary of trying to be the best you in the middle of endless pandemic days. Maybe you’ve wrestled with very tangible waves of panic and anxiety, or perhaps the days are have simply become dismal and indistinguishable. Wherever you find yourself today, I encourage you to press in deeper, closer to God. Only there will you find the best things—the things that will never of out of stock.

Jesus, thank you that the things going on around us don’t have to tear us up inside. We don’t have to succumb to the fear, even though we can’t make life go back to normal. Take us deeper, Lord, deeper into You. Let us hear the whisper of Your Spirit and lean into the ways you want to shape us into pure reflections of you. Thank you that we can stock up on the fruits of the Spirit, and the supply will never run out. In Your holy and precious name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

P.S. Did you know that The Uncommon Normal is also available as a podcast? Tune in to Apple Podcasts or Spotify to listen!