"Walk in the Spirit." It sounds so awesome! What believer would not want that to be true! By, it seems easier said than done. So, how exactly does one "walk in the Spirit" or "live by the Spirit?" Well, for the fool I am, I spent a good part of my Christian lif trying to work up the fruit of the Spirit. You know, "OK, today I am really going to try and be more loving. Tomorrow I will really work on being more joyful." We all know where that leads!
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
How does this fruit come about? Well, Jesus also alked about bearing fruit.
15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
So, the first thing to consider is "abiding." In fact, this abiding teaching is placed right in between chapters 14 and 16, which both address the Holy Spirit. Hmm...perhaps there is a connection here to Galatians 5! The Greek word for "abide" is meno and it means to "dwell." Now, we must notice that Jesus says that we are abide in Him - the grammar tells us that abiding is something active that we do.
How can we actively abide, dwell in, set up tent, with Jesus? Jesus says in John 15:7 that part of it means that His Word must abide in us. We must be devoted to His authoritative, inerrant Word. I think the old wisdom of "No Bible - no breakfast; no read - no feed" is good to live by. As believers, do we read God's Word every day without fail? Psalm 1 also connects being consumed with the Word to being a tree planted by streams of water - whose FRUIT does not wither.
In John 15:9-10, Jesus also says that abiding means remaining in His love specifically by means of obeying His Word. It is also noteworthy that there are 2 specific references to prayer in John 15:1-17. So, I would argue that we are actively abiding in Jesus if we are constantly in His Word, in prayer, and actively proving our love for Him by obeying His Word.
Now, Jesus made it very clear that we cannot produce fruit on our own. Galatians talks about the "fruit of the Spirit." I have never seen an apple struggle to produce itself. It is the natural product of a healthy, living tree.
So, what does all this mean? If I am abiding in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will produce in me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. I do not have to work up the energy to do those things - the Spirit will naturally do that through me in any given circumstance.
Does this mean I always respond to every situation with the fruit of the Spirit? No. Why not? Because I get in the way.
On the way home from church Sunday, my wife and 2 year old daughter were in a car accident - a young girl was too busy looking in her rear view mirror to see that my wife was stopped behind a car waiting to make a left hand turn.....SMACK. (Praise God they are both OK, just very sore).
In the midst of concern for everyone's safety, I can respond to that event in one of two ways. If I allow the Spirit to do His thing, I will have love and compassion for the girl responsible who was broken and sorrowful for what she did. I will respond with joy that my wife and daughter were not seriously injured. I will respond with peace, knowing that God is in control and all the details of insurance and getting our car repaired will all be taken care of. I will have patience in light of the fact that a day of rest that I was eagerly looking forward to was replaced with a trip to the emergency room and the police station and a bombardment of calls from insurance companies. You get the picture. I can't work up that kind of response. I don't have to. It is not "the fruit of Spooksam." It is the "fruit of the Spirit."
I get in the way when I chose to respond with anger rather than the love that the Spirit wants to display. I can chose to become bitter rather than have the joy that the Spirit is trying to produce. All the fruit are things the Spirit will do if I abide in Christ. Or, I can make the choice to get in the way and respond "in the flesh."
Now, if I am not abiding in Christ daily, I notice a difference. I have a shorter temper. I get more stressed out, etc. By not actively abiding, I am starving myself spiritually.
Why do I write all of this? Because I drove myselfnuts for years thinking I had to develop the fruit of the Spirit. I think the actuality of it is that what I need to do is just stay out of the Spirit's way.
You may be wondering, "So, how did you respond to the accident?" Well, first of all, truth is not dependent on experience. Second of all, I will say that I did not respond perfectly, but I did respond more "in the Spirit" than "in the flesh." |
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