But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
I am a very task-oriented person. I am all about the to-do lists. It gives me joy when I check something off. It stresses me out when I get to the end of the day, and there’s still twelve more things on my list.
Because of this, I have historically tended to turn almost every facet of my life into a mental to-do list. Everything feels like a competition or a performance to me. I will emerge either as a winner or a loser.
Most of life really isn’t supposed to be that way, though. I am learning that it’s actually OK to simply live life as it comes and appreciate moments as they’re happening. I am learning that it’s more important to start each day with gratitude than finish it with a gold medal.
So why is it that we keep wanting to go back to the things that we know didn’t work before? Are we just futility addicts? Or is this just part of the natural state of being human?
“Winners” and “Losers”
The problem lies in our tendency to define ourselves by what we do or fail to do. If I win, then I am a winner, but if I lose, then I am a loser. Nobody wants to be a loser though, so we do everything we can to win at life. And if we find we can not win, then we start doing things that are truly ridiculous.
Some people try to downplay life’s natural consequences by attempting to eliminate the concept of winning and losing, a concept that I call the “participation trophy” mentality. You’re a winner just for showing up! And if you didn’t even show up, we’ll try to find an excuse for you, so that you won’t lose. After all, you deserve to win!
Then there are the “glory days” people (I tend to fall into this category). These are the people who used to be the best at something. But then they went somewhere else where there were other people that were better. Or maybe they just got old and weren’t as good as they used to be. If a person like this is focused on winning, and he isn’t winning anymore, bitterness takes over in a hurry.
A person in this kind of a rut can’t let go of the past, can’t be happy for anyone else who wins in the present, and is bleak about the future that he sees for himself filled with nothing but losing. Because if you lose, then you’re a loser. But you can’t be a loser because you used to win. But now other people are winning and keeping you from the victory that is rightfully yours. So, if you can’t beat them, then you have to tear them down, so that you can be on top again.
Both of these misguided worldviews lead to the same error—trying to put everybody else on earth at the same level so that we can feel good about ourselves, either by having no distinction of greatness, or by declaring ourselves great by attrition. Both philosophies fail, because they both stand on the foundation of defining our worth by what we do, rather than who we are.
God gave us a better way to live.
In the Bible, Paul calls it “living by the Spirit.” This is a churchy way of saying “getting out of your own way and letting God do His work through you.” Living by the Spirit isn’t about checking things off a religious checklist. It is more about being aware of God’s influence in our lives and allowing ourselves to be led away from our own plans and deeper into His.
Notice in the verse at the beginning that it is the Holy Spirit that produces the fruit in our lives, not us. We don’t overcome the world by accomplishing all nine of those things on our own. Rather, when we yield to God’s leading in our lives, these fruits are the natural result of the change that He works within us.
Keeping In Step with the Spirit
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:25-26 (MSG)
The Christian walk is not concerned with how good we feel about ourselves for being Christians. While we don’t need to do things for God to get His attention, we do still have a part to play. Even a simple game of follow the leader requires effort.
Grace is the free gift of God, but it did not come cheaply. If we had no role to play in working out our own salvation, then what would be the point of getting saved in the first place?
The work that God does within us by the power of the Holy Spirit ought to be evident externally. We have been changed from within so that we may bring change to the world without. So, what does that look like?
More spiritual fruit, less religious nuts. . .
We began this post by listing the nine “fruits” of the Holy Spirit, which is to say, the characteristics that are produced by Him in us, which are the evidence of His existence in our lives. Let´s zoom in on these.
- Love. As we have discussed previously, love is an action word, not an emotion. Love involves sacrifice, or always putting the needs of others before your own.
- Joy. Like love, joy is more substantial than just a feeling of superficial happiness. It is a powerful force that is God’s response to our praise and thanksgiving. This strength renews and refuels us, giving us the proper attitude to carry on with whatever comes our way next.
- Peace. Peace is more than just an absence of discord. It involves trusting that God is strong enough to bring us through whatever trials await us, no matter how dire they may seem.
- Patience. I KNOW this one’s coming from the Lord because it sure didn’t originate with me! This is the supernatural ability to stay chill and let things roll off your back. In many people, this is the first fruit of the Spirit that others notice in a new believer. Short fuses get a lot longer.
- Kindness. Kindness is love in motion. This is the act of lifting up another who needs it. Before the Spirit’s work in your life, there were people you might not have even noticed. Afterward, though, you might find yourself helping these folks out without giving it a second thought.
- Goodness. I’ve always wondered why this one was listed after “kindness,” because goodness is the attitude from which kindness flows. To be able to do good for others, we must first have the mindset of doing good for its own sake.
- Faithfulness. A person under the influence of the Spirit will live a life of integrity. He will say what he means, mean what he says, finish what he starts, and always, ALWAYS keep his word. Lack of faithfulness is one of the quickest ways to spot a fake Christian. Someone who is timid, wishy-washy, unreliable, or plain dishonest is not living by the Spirit. It doesn’t matter how long he or she has been going to church.
- Gentleness. Along with patience, this is another obvious sign that God is working in someone’s life. If a person has a history of anger issues (as I have), and you see that person holding his tongue, not raising his voice, being less competitive, etc., it’s a good bet that person didn’t learn those techniques from a self-help book.
- Self-Control. Along with gentleness, people under the control of the Spirit are able to keep themselves together. They can hold themselves back and keep themselves from going to pieces in stressful situations. Again, when you see someone with a reactive nature not taking the bait and going for the throat anymore when someone tries to start an argument, you know that something’s up that didn’t start with that person.
I can not stress enough that this is not intended to be a to-do list for you to check off.
The goal here is not to get these things done. It’s to keep in step with the Holy Spirit by letting His influence in our lives rule our conduct. If our goal is to live lives of strong moral character and integrity, then the characteristics in the list above will shine through naturally, sometimes without our even being aware of them.
Other people will notice, however, just as they notice when we claim to be filled with the Spirit but fail to display these characteristics.
Again, the characteristics are not the goal. The character is.
(We will expound upon this next week in Part 3. Make sure you click on the Free Newsletter link so that you will be the first to know when it is available!)
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