The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22
When the New Testament talks about the Holy Spirit it's likely to be talking about one of two things: power, or purity.
Power is what was shown on the Day of Pentecost - the Spirit came like a gale-force wind and tongues of fire. Wind inspires, blowing away the cobwebs and breathing new life. Fire purges, burning away the dross of sin and compromise.
But purity is the focus of this challenging list in Galatians 5. God's Spirit comes to live within us and produce in our characters a harvest (that's pretty much what the word "fruit" means) of beautiful qualities. A good way to grasp the importance of what Paul is saying is to ask the question: What sort of world would planet earth be if every human being produced this fruit? The answer is simple: a paradise!
Wouldn't we all love to make the world perfect? Of course! But that's not going to happen. So our chief concern as Christians must be to live in such a way that we bring just a little hint of that paradise into our tiny corner of the world.
As I think about Paul's list three main thoughts come to my mind.
First, fruit is something that grows naturally or not at all. You can't force it. You can, if you like, go out and hang plastic pears or cardboard grapes on their respective trees. They may look very nice; at a distance they might even look real. But it won't take anyone long to discover that they're fake.
And in the same way we can all train ourselves to put a nice veneer on our personalities; this is called being civilised, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. But it isn't what Paul is talking about. He is talking about something that grows, as it were, organically, from deep within us. And it does so because it is essentially the work of the Holy Spirit.
You can always tell a truly Spirit-filled person because they are natural, easy, unassuming; they don't give the impression of forcing things, of trying to be something they're not. This is why it is so important to let the Spirit fill us day by day; only then will the fruit flourish.
Second, this isn't an optional list. Have you ever sat an exam where you have to tackle only a certain number of questions - four out of ten, say? You can safely ignore the other six; it won't count against you. Well, that isn't how Paul's list is to be treated! You can't say: "Well, I have to admit that I'm not much good when it comes to love, patience and self-control; but joy, gentleness, kindness and faithfulness - well, I reckon I'm not too bad there. And let's face it, four out of nine isn't bad!"
When the New Testament talks about the Holy Spirit it's likely to be talking about one of two things: power, or purity.
Power is what was shown on the Day of Pentecost - the Spirit came like a gale-force wind and tongues of fire. Wind inspires, blowing away the cobwebs and breathing new life. Fire purges, burning away the dross of sin and compromise.
But purity is the focus of this challenging list in Galatians 5. God's Spirit comes to live within us and produce in our characters a harvest (that's pretty much what the word "fruit" means) of beautiful qualities. A good way to grasp the importance of what Paul is saying is to ask the question: What sort of world would planet earth be if every human being produced this fruit? The answer is simple: a paradise!
Wouldn't we all love to make the world perfect? Of course! But that's not going to happen. So our chief concern as Christians must be to live in such a way that we bring just a little hint of that paradise into our tiny corner of the world.
As I think about Paul's list three main thoughts come to my mind.
First, fruit is something that grows naturally or not at all. You can't force it. You can, if you like, go out and hang plastic pears or cardboard grapes on their respective trees. They may look very nice; at a distance they might even look real. But it won't take anyone long to discover that they're fake.
And in the same way we can all train ourselves to put a nice veneer on our personalities; this is called being civilised, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. But it isn't what Paul is talking about. He is talking about something that grows, as it were, organically, from deep within us. And it does so because it is essentially the work of the Holy Spirit.
You can always tell a truly Spirit-filled person because they are natural, easy, unassuming; they don't give the impression of forcing things, of trying to be something they're not. This is why it is so important to let the Spirit fill us day by day; only then will the fruit flourish.
Second, this isn't an optional list. Have you ever sat an exam where you have to tackle only a certain number of questions - four out of ten, say? You can safely ignore the other six; it won't count against you. Well, that isn't how Paul's list is to be treated! You can't say: "Well, I have to admit that I'm not much good when it comes to love, patience and self-control; but joy, gentleness, kindness and faithfulness - well, I reckon I'm not too bad there. And let's face it, four out of nine isn't bad!"
No! These beautiful characteristics are intended to grow together, all of them, side by side. You never get any of them truly "sorted"; you can never tick any of them off. And neither can you act as if some of them don't matter. Indeed, examining them in that kind of way is completely artificial, for the fact is that only someone else is really qualified to judge how far we have progressed in this business of being filled with the Spirit. (I would go so far as to say that anyone who says "I am filled with the Spirit" shows by that very claim that - they aren't!)
Third, there's a sting in the tail. If you look through the list you get the impression of a very gentle type of person. But bringing up the rear is something much more muscular, if I can put it that way: self-control. Do you find yourself thinking "Ouch! that really is a weak spot of mine!"? I suspect that many of us do. I'm glad Paul put it in, because some Christians give the impression that being Spirit-filled is a bit like floating along on a spiritual cloud nine, complete with an angelic smile on your face. Again, no! Growing the fruit of the Spirit requires real determination and seriousness about following Christ. This is no Christian equivalent of a drug trip.
As I said, it's not for us to assess ourselves when it comes to being Spirit-filled - that's for others to do. But what we can do is give this list serious thought and ensure that we allow ourselves the conditions for such growth. Jesus said: "Remain in me" - in effect, Make your home in me. That's the heart of it; that's how to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Lord God, make my life like a harvest field, producing in me all that is pure, holy and Christlike. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment