Steadfast, Immovable, Abounding

This post serves as an introduction to my coming series of posts, in which I hope to discuss the fruit of the Spirit.

How many times have you heard someone say, “You can’t expect me to do that. It’s not my personality type”? Maybe you’ve even said or thought it yourself. Sometimes we spend a lot of time inventing excuses for actions or attitudes we know are wrong. We try to lose the burden of responsibility by blaming what we (apparently) have no control over—our own personalities. “I’m just not a bubbly person, so how can I be expected to be cheerful and joyful all the time?” “I value justice and truth, so it isn’t in my nature to be merciful and compassionate.” “I’m an introvert. I’ll have to leave sharing the gospel to someone else.” “I hate confrontation, so don’t expect me to lovingly talk to my friends when I see sin in their lives.” Each of these examples displays a wrong understanding of what redemption and purification look like.

When I think through Scripture of those who used their personalities as an excuse, the first person I think of is Moses. When the Lord commands Him to go to Egypt and speak before Pharaoh, Moses has doubts: “Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue’” (Exodus 4:10). Moses apparently wasn’t the best public speaker. That “just wasn’t who he was.” Instead of trusting God to equip him according to His purposes, he used this as an excuse to disobey.

We need to remember that when God saves us and replaces our rags with His riches, we can’t hold on to the customs of our previous life, hoarding them under the pretense of “personality.” The fruit of the Spirit are not a pick-three list where we get to choose which ones we like and which ones are too difficult to maintain. As Paul writes in Galatians 5, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Paul says we have crucified the flesh—we have said goodbye to our old selves and taken on Christ. Earlier, in Galatians 2, he writes: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” As Christians, we are brand new creations; we have the Spirit within us. If we have been baptized and renewed by the Holy Spirit, then His fruit is our new personality.

But don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that any character trait we feel is a part of who we are needs to be cut off. Our amazing God is the greatest Artist in the universe. All we need do is look around at His creation to see that. I believe that He created each of us with a unique personality, designed by Him for a specific and special purpose. He created the quiet one who loves to serve, the funny one who can make anyone laugh, the organized one who keeps us all from going crazy, and the courageous one who can lead with humble confidence. 1 Corinthians 12 says, “For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” When I say that we shouldn’t use our personalities as an excuse, I don’t mean that we should strive to act oppositely from our character, but rather embrace the personality God has designed for us and encourage the growth of the Spirit’s fruit in our lives. Again quoting Mere Christianity: “The question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us. He is the inventor, we are only the machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture.” What colors has God painted on your canvas? Who does He want you to be? And will you pour your own paint over His masterpiece, or stand back amazed at the Artist who has created you?