Fruit of the Spirit

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of hearing John Flowers speak at Kingdom Culture. Though I'm not exactly sure of what he said that sparked these thoughts, I know that since then I've been thinking about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 says that the fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And for the longest time I've always thought that the reason that these were explained were because when I received the Holy Spirit, I received these as well. But now I'm beginning to see that this can't be an accurate view of these verses.

There are two problems with the view that the fruit of the Spirit comes when you receive Christ. First of all, not every Christian possesses all or any of these at any given time. And secondly, there are non-christians who oftentimes do.

So what I'm thinking is that this fruit isn't supposed to be seen in the same light as the gifts of the Holy Spirit (which are things which only Christians possess), but rather an indicator of the presence of the Holy Spirit. If I see a clerk showing patience with a rude customer, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit work in them. If I see a kid full of joy, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit give it to them. If I see a teenage couple show self-control in their physicality, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit at work.

This view is so encouraging. It turns the fruit of the Spirit into a highlighter for where the Lord is at work. It shows that even when someone wants nothing to do with God, He still wants something to do with them. Whenever you see one of these things, they're practically screaming, "The Holy Spirit is working here!"

Looking Like My Dad

My dad was a very hard working man. Sometimes he would wake up before everyone else in the house, go do a day's worth of work and still be back in time to cook us all breakfast before any of us even thought about getting up, and then go work a little more. I'm not sure I realized this as a kid, though. I always just saw him after dinner in his pajamas which consisted a green t-shirt and blue sweatpants. He would always put on his nightly uniform and then lay on the couch and watch some TV.

I was probably 8 years old when I realized that I too owned a green t-shirt and blue sweatpants, so one night, on a whim, I put them on and went to lay down with my dad on the couch and watch wrestling with him. We didn't really talk much, we just laid there together and watched the grown men in underwear beat each other up.

I thought it was awesome! So much so that I continued to do it nightly for a long time. My mom thought it was cute, and I know my dad loved it too, but there wasn't really anything seemingly significant about that time. Yet these still stand out as some of the fondest memories I have of my dad. I remember how much I loved imitating my dad and how great it made me feel to know that he liked it too. I really do hope and pray that someday I'll be the kind of man that my kids want to imitate.

These memories popped into my head tonight as I read Ephesians 5:1, which says, "Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children." This, like so many other commands of God, is a command of love, not a wagging of His finger. He's not saying, "Ya know, you really wouldn't screw up so much if you'd just act more like Me." He's our Father. He knows that just like, imitating my dad, brought me joy, imitating God will bring His children joy as well. And more than that, I doubt little more brings joy to the Father's heart than when His kids are trying to be just like their Daddy.