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The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But that raises an honest question: How can these be the Fruit of the Spirit if people who are not Christians can express them? Even the worst of the worst can show love at some level. A violent person may still be patient with their own children. So what do we do with that?

At first glance, it doesn’t seem to make sense. And honestly, I get that reaction. There is a theological concept that John Wesley—the father of the Methodist movement—taught called prevenient grace. But let’s dig a little deeper.

What is prevenient grace? Simply put, it is the grace of God that “goes before.” It is God’s grace at work in every person—before salvation, before faith, before we even recognize Him. It is this grace that allows people to recognize what is good, to respond to it, and even to reflect aspects of God’s character.

Why? Because every person is created in the image of God. So when we see love, kindness, patience, or goodness in the world—even in people who do not follow Christ—we are not seeing something separate from God. We are seeing the evidence of His grace already at work.

Not saving grace yet. We do not first reach for God on our own; He is already at work drawing us, awakening us, and shaping the soil of our hearts so that we can respond. Even the “yes” of faith is born in the space He has already prepared.

“There is no man that is in a state of mere nature; there is no man, unless he has quenched the Spirit, that is wholly void of the grace of God.” 

John Wesley – Sermon 85 – “On Working Out Our Own Salvation”