Do You Want The Fruit Now?

Owen Arnold said, "Dear God, I pray for patience.  And I want it right now!"   Patience is the fruit of the Spirit and also a virtue to be developed--even the unbeliever can be patient.  Just because one is filled with the Spirit doesn't mean that he is the most patient person he could be.  He may have a measure of patience, but not as much as he wants.  If you want patience, God will surely put trials in your life--so be careful what you pray for--you may get it!  If I want patience, I'll pray for it myself, you might say.

We should differentiate between fruit and gifts:  fruits are grown, while gifts are given.  That means that even an infant believer may show usage of a gift (according to the measure of faith God has given him, per Rom. 12:3), while a mature believer may struggle with self-control (the last of the fruits in Gal. 5:23), because fruit comes with the territory of experience and hardship or trials.  There is pseudo-fruit of the world that masquerades as spiritual:  faux wisdom or street smarts; false happiness that is self-centered and dependent on happenings, etc.  We are not to be fooled but seek to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).  Note that "Jesus increased in stature and in wisdom, and in favor with God and man [He didn't come with an already fully-developed mind]"  (Luke 2:52 KJV).

The first fruit mentioned is love; this is because this is the telltale sign of a Christian and he has no excuse not to love another.  If anyone doesn't love, he doesn't know God, for God is love  (cf. 1 John 4:8).  The confusion may arise when one confuses being filled with the Spirit with demonstrating the fruit (there is pseudo-fruit too)--that they always go together--and they are there, but not always in the measure we expect.  (Eph. 5:18 means to keep on being filled with the Spirit--it is not a one-time filling or second blessing). Being filled merely means that one is controlled by the Spirit and is not living according to the flesh or the old sin nature (carnally).

Feeling (the fruit is not all about them) may or may not accompany the fillings (which are usually given for a ministry or when the Spirit wants to perform some task and equip the believer for it).   Spirituality is not about always walking about on some spiritual high, or of walking in the glow of some past experience.  True spirituality is demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit and that means God's fruit, not our fruit.  Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God!

Note also that another gift, peace, is given when we pray with thanksgiving as our attitude (cf. Phil. 4:6-7).  Jesus taught that Christians would be known by their love (cf. John 13:35).  This is a matter of testimony that has to do with showing our fruit. Don't depend on feelings; lack of feeling, in itself, doesn't mean one is not filled with the Spirit.  To sum up, what I'm trying to say, it is not how much of the Spirit you have (all Christians have the measure of the Spirit), but how much of you the Spirit has (how submissive you are to His will).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Self-exaltation And Humility

Jesus said that whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted  (cf. Luke 14:11; Matt. 23:12).  "...humility comes before honor" (Prov. 15:33).  The Bible condemns selfish ambition, but not a spiritual Christ-oriented ambition in the Spirit.  Go ahead, attempt great things for God and believe great things for God--our God is big enough for all of us and our ambitions.

The problem with spiritual ambition is accomplishing it in the right way.  The brothers James and John thought that spiritual authority was theirs for the asking.  We are to serve in God's kingdom as Christ did--as servants.  "I have not come to be served, but to serve..." (Mark 10:45).  We are not Christ's buddies or sidekicks, but His servants and fellow-laborers in His kingdom.  John the Baptist had the right attitude when he enunciated:  "He must increase, I must decrease."  In God's economy, the way up is down (a paradox).  True greatness is not in how many people serve you, but in how many people you serve.

Paul had something to say about exaltation in Philippians 2 where he depicts Christ's humiliation or kenosis [Greek for "emptying"] and subsequent exaltation.  Christ was equal to God, yet could not fathom that, and humbled himself as a man, then as a servant, then went to die on a cross on our behalf though He did no wrong Himself.  He was born in a manger of poor parents (there was no room at the inn), and lived life as an itinerant preacher and when He died owned nothing except the clothes on His back.  He was exalted and glorified before birth as the Son of God, and He was shamed and humiliated by His ignominious death on a cross, meant for the worst of malefactors--not civilized people.  Christ expects no more from us than He did of Himself.  Our so-called crosses pale in comparison to His and His yoke is easy and His burden is light comparatively.

Peter said in 1 Peter 5:5 that "[God] opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."   He goes on (v. 6) to affirm that we should humble ourselves, "that he may lift [us] up [exalt us]  in due time."  "If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth! (Prov. 30:32).   Or you are accused of speaking for God ex cathedra (to pontificate or speak from the chair literally) like the Pope does (we are not infallible, as he claims to be).

God knows our heart and who we are and has what is best in store for us if we simply trust and obey His Word. If Christ obliged himself to be humbled as a servant, to fulfill Scripture, how much more are we obliged.  In conclusion, let others exalt us and let's not toot our own horn ("lift up your horn on high," says Psalm75:5a), and promote ourselves, or even praise ourselves, but let others do it.

   Soli Deo Gloria!