The 9 Irrefutable Laws of Followship

In Jared Wilson’s new (and in my opinion, best) book, The Imperfect Disciple, he wrote a chapter called, “The Nine Irrefutable Laws of Followship.” In this chapter (pp. 147-73), he explains how the nine attributes that make up the fruit of the Spirit remind us that “We are gifted with the holiness into which we have been called.” In other words, the Holy Spirit has been given to us through union with Christ to mold us into the holiness God calls us to.

Below are “the nine irrefutable laws of followship,” with some quotes from the book.

1. Be Ye Loving

“Only the gospel gives us the security (of union with Christ) to risk reputation and hurt in order to love others sacrificially and boldly.”

2. Be Ye Joyful

“God is not expecting us to muster up happiness in him from the void of some nebulous religious reservoir. He puts the joy inside of us that he demands from us.”

3. Be Ye Peaceful

“Peace between us and God comes through propitiation, and if we are at peace with God and have peace from God, what in the world should we be afraid of?”

4. Be Ye Patient

“If the God of our salvation is sovereign, we can relax. It doesn’t depend on us. The world is not what we make of it. … He predestined this very circumstance. If I believe that, I can be patient.”

5. Be Ye Kind

“But God! His kindness! It led me to repentance.”

6. Be Ye Good

“And if we are to be good, if we are to have the goodness Paul says comes from the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5), it can only be because we’ve been connected to the very goodness of Jesus by the Spirit.”

7. Be Ye Faithful

“He is so gracious that even though our faith is imperfect and weird and wonky, he shores it all up still and evermore with his perfect grace and the perfect righteousness of his Son.”

8. Be Ye Gentle

“He is gentle with us. And his gentleness is conferred to us, transferred to us as we find him gentle in the face of our own stubbornness and failure to get our act together. The more into his grace we rest, the more from his grace we will become gentle.”

9. Be Ye Self-Controlled

“The more we walk with Christ and the more we are led by the Spirit, the less satisfying we find the world and so the more restrained we become with it.”

Jared has offered a fresh and helpful perspective on the Christian life in The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can’t Get Their Act Together. Grab a copy for yourself.

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