Anyone who knows me well knows just how much I love to EAT! In fact, I
love to eat all kinds of foods from all five food groups. I truly savor all sorts of foods with varying textures, smells, and tastes. But I do believe that some of my absolute favorite foods are fruits ripened and in season. Take a big, juicy strawberry, for instance. Or how how about fresh blackberries, peaches, nectarines, and exotic fruits such as kiwi and mangos? My mouth waters just thinking about how delicious they taste. How about you? What type of fruit do you savor and long for?
My mind turns to yet another type of fruit—heavenly fruit. It is the fruit that gets God’s full and undivided attention. It is not edible, of course. Yet it is a fruit that God honors and unequivocally savors. It is called the “fruit of the Spirit” and its effects last much longer than the edible kind.
As Christians growing in the Lord, God calls us to possess these qualities in increasing measure. Now, I have to be brutally honest. How is it possible to always be lovable, joyful, peaceful, patient, and kind? How can I always have goodness, gentleness, and faithfulness in my heart? Let us not forget self-control, which I believe is one of the most difficult character traits to possess.
Early in my walk with Christ I remember asking God specifically for these fruits of the Spirit. “Please Lord, give me love, give me joy, give my peace, give me patience, give me, give me, give me.” Now, please don’t misunderstand me. My heart was in the right place, but I was somewhat misinformed. I soon found out that there is no way my human sinful nature could display all of these wonderful virtues in my life day in and day out. I would try to be loving, patient, and kind and some days I did pretty well. Then the next day would roll around and for some reason I lacked patience and self-control. Of course, I’d blame it on hormonal imbalance or my kids. I quickly began a self-defeating, downward spiral believing that I would never be able to possess all of these wonderful character traits. Frustratingly, I concluded that I just didn’t have what it takes.
Fortunately, God loves me enough to clarify His Word to me. My eyes were opened and I found new hope as I began to understand that I would never be able to master the fruits of the Spirit in my own strength. I learned that the Holy Spirit is working spontaneously in me to produce these character traits and only as I fill myself with Him will I ever be able to exhibit these stellar qualities. Simply put, they are by-products of living under His control. God lovingly taught me that the more I submitted to His control, the easier it would be for me to be loving, joyful, or patient. I realized that the Holy Spirit is the one who possesses all of these qualities and I can’t obtain them in my own strength or get them without his help. In short, I can not bypass a relationship with Him. These qualities are the very nature of Jesus Christ and as I join my life with His and make my relationship with Him a priority, He will begin to produce these traits in me in increasing measure.
Will I still mess up and lack self-control or patience at times? I know I will. But through God’s forgiveness and grace He will enable me to begin again. Thank goodness, He doesn’t give up on me as easily as I do myself! Together, we’ll tackle these virtues that need to be perfected. I know he’ll lovingly teach and guide me because He’s invested a lot in me. And he thinks I’m worth it!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal 5:22.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lam 3:23
My mind turns to yet another type of fruit—heavenly fruit. It is the fruit that gets God’s full and undivided attention. It is not edible, of course. Yet it is a fruit that God honors and unequivocally savors. It is called the “fruit of the Spirit” and its effects last much longer than the edible kind.
As Christians growing in the Lord, God calls us to possess these qualities in increasing measure. Now, I have to be brutally honest. How is it possible to always be lovable, joyful, peaceful, patient, and kind? How can I always have goodness, gentleness, and faithfulness in my heart? Let us not forget self-control, which I believe is one of the most difficult character traits to possess.
Early in my walk with Christ I remember asking God specifically for these fruits of the Spirit. “Please Lord, give me love, give me joy, give my peace, give me patience, give me, give me, give me.” Now, please don’t misunderstand me. My heart was in the right place, but I was somewhat misinformed. I soon found out that there is no way my human sinful nature could display all of these wonderful virtues in my life day in and day out. I would try to be loving, patient, and kind and some days I did pretty well. Then the next day would roll around and for some reason I lacked patience and self-control. Of course, I’d blame it on hormonal imbalance or my kids. I quickly began a self-defeating, downward spiral believing that I would never be able to possess all of these wonderful character traits. Frustratingly, I concluded that I just didn’t have what it takes.
Fortunately, God loves me enough to clarify His Word to me. My eyes were opened and I found new hope as I began to understand that I would never be able to master the fruits of the Spirit in my own strength. I learned that the Holy Spirit is working spontaneously in me to produce these character traits and only as I fill myself with Him will I ever be able to exhibit these stellar qualities. Simply put, they are by-products of living under His control. God lovingly taught me that the more I submitted to His control, the easier it would be for me to be loving, joyful, or patient. I realized that the Holy Spirit is the one who possesses all of these qualities and I can’t obtain them in my own strength or get them without his help. In short, I can not bypass a relationship with Him. These qualities are the very nature of Jesus Christ and as I join my life with His and make my relationship with Him a priority, He will begin to produce these traits in me in increasing measure.
Will I still mess up and lack self-control or patience at times? I know I will. But through God’s forgiveness and grace He will enable me to begin again. Thank goodness, He doesn’t give up on me as easily as I do myself! Together, we’ll tackle these virtues that need to be perfected. I know he’ll lovingly teach and guide me because He’s invested a lot in me. And he thinks I’m worth it!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal 5:22.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lam 3:23
1 comment:
Good thought provoking post. God has been teaching me that if I find that I am impatient with a certain person, then each time I have to interact with them I ask God to be patient THROUGH me and I admit to Him that I cannot be patient with them on my own. Then later when I look back at that interaction with the person, I realize that God really did enable me to be kind and patient with them! It's such a simple prayer but it invites God to 'take over' my emotions and actions. That simple prayer has freed me up so that I am not anxious around that person anymore. God is amazing!
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