Steadfast, Immovable, Abounding

This is the “capstone” to my series of posts about the fruit of the Spirit.

As I was reading through the past nine posts I’ve written, from “Love” to “Self-Control,” I noticed a common thread running through all of them. While writing each post, I was perpetually led back to the truth that the fruits are the character of God manifested in us. We have an exact picture of what the fruit of the Spirit look like because we see them perfectly fulfilled in Christ. I honestly began to wonder if I was starting to sound redundant—if, after all, my posts were simply saying the same thing repeatedly.

But isn’t that the point? Isn’t “displaying the fruits of the Spirit” just being Christlike? The process of sanctification brings us ever closer to the image of Christ; His thoughts and actions become our own. While discussing sanctification, my former Sunday-School teacher once used the analogy that “a silversmith knows his silver is fully refined when he can see his own reflection in it.” That idea has always stuck with me. It reminds me that my thoughts and actions should mirror the character of God; the more purified I am, the more I look like my Maker. The more I look like Him, the better I display the fruit of the Spirit. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:4-5, “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,” and later in verse 18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

The only reason we can exhibit the fruits is because the Spirit of God dwells in us. Far too often, we attempt to attain the fruits in our own strength; we think if we try hard enough, we can produce love, joy, peace, etc. from within ourselves. But we must remember that the fruit of the Spirit are His personality—and because God alone is holy, He is the only source of these traits we are called to display. God’s love is inseparable (Romans 8:39). God’s joy is exultant (Zephaniah 3:17). God’s peace is incomprehensible (Philippians 4:7). God’s patience is perfect (1 Timothy 1:16). God’s kindness leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). God’s goodness is satisfying (Jeremiah 31:14). God’s faithfulness reaches to the skies (Psalm 36:5). God’s gentleness makes us great (Psalm 18:35). God’s control is founded by His love (2 Corinthians 5:14).

If the fruit of the Spirit are really a description of Jesus, then our duty is simple—be like Jesus. To borrow the expression, ask yourself, “what would Jesus do?” Unfortunately, this phrase has become merely a fad of popular culture; we rarely consider the answers to the thought-provoking question. In all sincerity, consider your words and actions over the past day or week. Would Jesus have said what you have said? Would He have done what you have done? If not, those words and actions are certainly not suitable for a follower of Christ to engage in. Ephesians 5:8-10 says, “For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”

Why is it our responsibility to show the world what Jesus is like? Why can’t they simply see Him for themselves? The answer is simple—this dark world has shut out the light of the Lord. But the world can still see us and notice when our character is marked by the counter-cultural fruit of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 14:16-17, “‘I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.’” Sinful humanity cannot understand the fruit of the Spirit because they do not know Him. That is why our lives must proclaim, through our fruits, the work God has done.

Of course, we will never truly be like Jesus until we see Him face to face and are made new in His presence. But until that day, we must seek Him and ask the Spirit to cultivate His fruit in us. 1 John 3:1-2 says, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” It is the sight of Jesus that instills the character of Jesus. We must pray to see a little more of Him every day. Let our hearts be mirrors, showing the world the God whom we see, but it does not.