Fruit of the Spirit—evidence that your relationship with God is growing
Jesus told his disciples (Matthew 7:
17-18), “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.18
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can
a bad tree bear good fruit.”
Not as a source of pride, but as an indication and evidence
of the Spirit of God in one’s life, Paul shared (Galatians 5:22-23) the
following as Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These things are good on
their own, but in this context they are presented not as goals, but as evidence
of progress in the goal of a growing relationship with God—they are the
symptoms but the relationship is the cause.
As 19th century English preacher J.C. Ryle noted, “Faith in
Christ alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.” Faith will be
evidenced by good fruits.
Remembering that the fruits are the evidence but not the
goal is important in fighting off pride in our fruits. If you humbly offer your
fruit, hoping it’s acceptable, you are not thinking you deserve anything for
it, but are just giving what you can. Like the little drummer boy’s gift, your
fruit becomes an act of worship, with gratitude in your heart. But if you
admire it (and maybe even idolize it) as your great accomplishment, then, like
Narcissus, you may come to believe you deserve praise because of your fruit.
Admiring God’s work through you is fine and even an act of worship, but it’s a
slippery slope to self-pride and we all must be ever vigilant to avoid that
trap. This is related to the importance of properly ordered loves discussed in
the chapter on Love—our first love must always be God.
If I am faithful, I am like a wire delivering power from its
source to a good use—I am not the source of the power, but may be able to
deliver it. If I am able, there is no
pride in that—only the satisfaction of having played a role. I am not the source.
Related to that, there’s the issue of mixed motives and
trying to make sure that our motives are always on serving God—The DC Talk
song, “What if I Stumble” refers to this challenge.
The Beatitudes
Jesus shared the Beatitudes to give his followers guidance in developing their relationship with God in the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5)
3 “Blessed are the poor
in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who
mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed
are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed
are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed
are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed
are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed
are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The Beatitudes are often read as a list of individual
comforting and encouraging blessings, but they are also seen as a pathway or
stepping stones in our walk of faith: people of faith begin by realizing (and
always remembering) that they are poor in spirit (falling short daily), for
which they are repentant and mourn, which causes them to be meek and not
prideful, and strive for righteousness, with the subsequent blessings being
attitudes and outcomes of their growing faith.
Throughout the Bible
there is a cycle of following commandments and being blessed, and then falling
away and suffering—God blesses and admonishes based on behavior. Yet it
also seems like followers may be blessed or suffering independent of their
actions, but based on God’s plan for our development—athletes all know of the
phrase, “No pain, no gain.” And there is also the idea that that behaving
better/getting closer to God may result in Satan causing you more trouble.
I have found that same spirit which guides me in discerning
sin often guides me in things that seem to be my choice and have nothing to do
with sin. I have found that things always go better for me when I accept that
guidance, whether it seems related to sin or not.
Continuing on that line of thought, it seems like we should
strive to have our consciences directed by the Holy Spirit and I expect that
many of our inspirations are gifts of the Spirit—that the Spirit can serve as
our muse if we will let it. Most Christians believe that the Spirit inspired
and revealed things to the writers of the Bible—that the writers alone could
not have produced what they did. It seems like people are still being inspired
by the Spirit, though it is important to discern which words and actions are so
inspired and which are not—which is where the Fruit of the Spirit plays an
important role.
While faith is a gift, we have to accept the invitation
The Israelites had to go out to get
the manna—it was not delivered to the tent ready to eat. We have to recognize
the blessings from God and often have a role to play in receiving them. You may
have heard the story about the guy who fell out of a large boat and was
drowning in the middle of the ocean. Three boats passed by, each offering to
rescue him, but in each case, he said, “No thanks, God will save me.” When he
got to heaven (after drowning!) he said to St. Peter, “Why didn’t God save me?”
to which Peter replied, “He sent three boats to rescue you but you kept
refusing!” Blessings don’t always look like we expect them to and we need to
work to recognize them all around us and do our part to receive them.
While it is true that God works in mysterious ways, God also
works—and answers prayers—in straightforward, everyday ways and we often don’t
even recognize it. I see these everyday works in responses and answers
throughout my day in songs that come on just what I need to hear that message,
in someone saying something to directly answer the question I was thinking
about but had not asked them (sometimes when I wasn’t even speaking to them,
but overhearing a conversation in which they were speaking). I see it in a road
signs, in people and things I just run into throughout the day that say and do
things that are directly relevant to a concern or something I’m thinking about.
And there are many books, including collections like Francis Collins’ Believe listed below, that share stories
of many others who have had similar experiences.
Sections in this chapter:
- The heart of faith
- The core message and goal for your life
- Seeking to trust God and become more like Jesus
- Knowing your role—and God’s
- Fruit of the Spirit
- Managing our priorities
- And our praise
- Identity, the creeds, and unity
- The struggle of finding and holding faith
- Ultimate truth
- Faith must be our own
- Levels and types of faith
- Faith vs. knowledge
- Faith and the Law and Works
- Free Will and The Fall
- Seeking to understand the Bible and life through discernment
- The challenge of discernment
- Handling different discernments
- "Our own words"
- Exploring challenging passages and ideas
- The importance of prayer
- Personal reflections
- The importance of living the life
- It’s not too late
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