The Fruit of The Spirit: How???

I have been struggling with who I am and who I want to be. The difference has been creating tension and dissatisfaction within me. This has led me to study the Fruit of the Spirit more closely this year.

I shared this in an earlier post titled Fruit of the Spirit: Dichotomy

Bear fruit? What??? How?? What kind of crazy metaphor is this???

On this journey of becoming who I want to be rather than who I naturally am, it can be hard to know where to start or how to go about it.

How do I bear fruit?

I can behave lovingly without actually being more loving in my true soul. When the tension, pressure, and hardships of life come, who I am in my innermost being leaks out of the stress fractures that crack my carefully constructed facade.

I was asked to speak about patience to a group of youth last year. I love youth. They are bold, honest and engaging.  I tried some new appetizer recipes out. I asked the Youth to show me what patience looks like while their leaders came and tasted the various treats.

The youth did a great job displaying patience yet, when questioned further, they admitted to feeling cheated, feeling like it was unfair that their leaders got food while they didn't. In short, their inner dialogue exposed impatience. Many admitted that while appearing patient on the outside, they were not actually patient on the inside.

I am way past looking for a surface fix. For a long, long time I have been digging for way more than an external make-over. I want more than a sprucing up of outward appearances.

I want my inner self to be transformed. We are talking major renovation of the heart.

As a brand new Mom, I joined an intimate study. We went through Experiencing God together. It was a perfect storm in my life for God to begin a mighty work.

I struggled with Post Pardum Depression as a new Mom. One day I will share that story. This is not that day. Suffice it to say, motherhood revealed to me that I, like Paul, was the worst of sinners 1Timothy 1:15 NET. I came face to face with my true self. I valued God's grace, salvation, and mercy in deeper more profound ways than ever before. I knew the true depths of my need and began a desperate journey to know and love God more and more.  I had an insatiable desperation to be a new creation.

How does one go about this???

The first chapter of Experiencing God focused of John 15. It beautifully set my focus. I was head over heals with God. I was so amazed by the depth of his love for me. I loved him desperately in return. I wanted God's fruit in my life. There was only one way to to get it.

Jesus told his disciples “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing."

Bear fruit.

Remain in him.

Remain...

I am not responsible for the fruit.

I am responsible for remaining.

We tend to want to make this complicated. We want steps to follow, we want it mapped out. When I remain, God will take care of the fruit! This is so freeing!! It is so much more simple than I want to make it!!

Blackaby writes in his  introduction to the first day that knowing God does not come through a program or a method. It is a relationship with a person. An intimate love relationship with God.

We are all wired to relate to God in different ways. But if we do not spend time in his presence, we are not going to develop this relationship. It may mean that we have to go beyond our natural inclinations. If we like to be busy, we may have to learn to be still in his presence. The example of Mary and Martha illustrates this.

The command is:  Be Still and know that I am God. It doesn't look like an optional statement to me...

If we like to be with people, we may have to learn to embrace solitude, Jesus modeled this as he often went off alone to pray. If Jesus needed it, how much more do we???

We are to have His words remain in us. This is more than using the Bible as a work of literature or as an academic book. It is knowing the word of God, using it as a way to know Him and enjoy Him.

We are to remain in His love by obeying what he commands. We can only know what His commands are if we know His words. We may like to seek understanding, wrestle with spiritual truths academically but there is a time to apply truth and live it out practically through obedience.

We may be introverted, or struggling to get over church hurt. We may be disappointed with Christians as a whole. I am sorry if I have caused such disappointment for you. It is the last thing I want to do! We may want to follow on our own, but God placed us in a spiritual family. He called us to get to seek him and live life together as a body. Together we sharpen each other, we spur one another on.

There are loads of disciplines that explore how to be in God's presence and grow our relationship with him.

I know that some of the most difficult for me to develop, and the disciplines that are not in line with my natural wiring, have become some of my most treasured and valuable ways of interacting with God.

Don't write off a discipline off because you don't think it will work for you. Give it an honest effort and time before you make that decision.

Here are a couple of resources:

Be Still
Remain
Delight in His word.
Obey his commands.
I believe these are the starting points.

Let's try a new way. I am looking forward to an abundant harvest of fruit!!