Apples to Apples

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4-5

These past several weeks, God has been talking to me a lot about the idea of bearing fruit. He has reminded me more than once to go back and remember who my intended audience was when I first started this writing adventure a year or so ago. And who is that? It's the people that I am surrounded by every day in my hometown. It's the people I do life with at school, church, the grocery store, the mall, restaurants, etc. some of whom I know intimately, but most of whom are strangers. Most of these people are fairly well off, upper middle class and at least semi-conservative. I list these things not as positives or negatives, it's just a matter of defining who I see on a daily basis. Many of the women I know do not work traditional paying jobs, but spend countless hours volunteering at their schools, churches, etc. Most of the husbands have very stable, well paying careers. This, by no means, defines 100% of the people in my periphery daily, but it's an important picture to paint in order to make my greater point. Sometimes... not all the time... but sometimes in deed, not experiencing a lack of much, if anything, in life can lead to little or no spiritual fruit bearing in our lives. Before you get ready to jump down my throat for "stereotyping" wealthy, upper middle class people as lazy, fruitless Christians, read on and let's explore this a bit further.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;

Galatians 5:19-23

Love. Joy. Peace. While these three may, at first glance, seem abundantly present in the lives of those I envision when I write, I often have to wonder if they lost everything overnight, what would the fallout be for these fruits? Would they stay firmly planted in the vine by which they were given life or would they plop swiftly to the ground to shrivel up and die? Remember, in all my blog posts, I never ask things of my readers that I am unwilling to answer for myself. I have considered many, many times whether or not I would still be filled with love for my Savior, joy unexplainable and peace in my soul if we had to sell everything we own tomorrow and move into a cardboard box under the Jefferson Street bridge. Now I know that sounds far fetched and we are very fortunate to have family close by that would never allow things to go that far, but you understand my point. If the existence of these three things is solely dependent on our "comfortableness" then I do not think we can actually count them as fruits of the spirit at all. I think what you have are temporary feelings that, in an instant, could leave you and never return if your circumstances took a turn for the crappy. Am I saying that if the above cardboard box scenario were to come true, I would in those very moments be at max capacity in these areas? That's absurd and I would be a liar if I said yes. But, if my fruit is alive and healthy and it exists solely as an extension of the vine from which it comes, then these things are ever present in my life even when the unimaginable takes place. They are not temporary emotions I feel because I can currently afford a really comfy life. If the fruit is really fruit at all, it will always abide.

Patience. Sheesh. Already lost your patience today, like me? Already glared at the driver in the middle of the intersection blocking all the traffic because they just couldn't wait through another red light? Oh yeah, I lose patience with people's impatience all the bloomin' time. Man, what if God felt that way about us? What if God was up there giving us the ultimate stink eye every single time we stepped out of line. Good grief, that would feel just awful. Bearing the fruit of patience means that, even in my justified frustration, my eyes are ever viewing others through the same lens that God uses. Oh, I am clearly not God and can't even begin to do this effectively most days. But, when I step too far out of bounds and am really about to lay one on some unsuspecting person who is on my last nerve, if I stop and listen for the still, small voice speaking sanity back into me, all of a sudden that person becomes a fellow child of God instead of a bug I need to squash. Can you tell God speaks to me about this fruit often?

Kindness. Goodness. You are kind, you say. You are good. I know, I know. I am too. Especially to those who are kind and good to me first. Hmmmmmm. Something's not quite right about that. What was it the bible said about how we are to behave towards our enemies?

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:43-45

How's that fruit feeling now? Healthy, vibrant, strong and luscious? Or seriously barely hanging on? Once again, in the geographic area where I reside, it is easy to feel safe and sort of tucked away inside a nice, snuggly bubble of "same-ness" that allows us to feel like we excel in the areas of kindness and goodness. And for the most part, we are kind and we are good... to each other. The question is, how do we do when we see the struggling mom with her 6 kids in Kroger who are all barely clothed and running amok? Are we kind to her? How do we do with the waiter giving us attitude who has face piercings, a tattoo sleeve and his earlobes stretched out? Are we good to him? I am going to tell you right now, if you are NOT under the control of the Holy Spirit in those moments, kindness and goodness will never, no not once, be your go-to emotions. It is sooooo easy to be kind and good to those who are just like us and who don't come at us like a straight pin about to bust up our happy, little bubbles. Don't we know by now that God doesn't look at our outward appearance, but at our hearts? God could care less that you live in a 5,000 square foot house, have 2.5 kids, a lab and a pool. He doesn't give you extra credit points for "looking normal." Do you show kindness to those that annoy the fire out of you? Are you good to the workers in your home that showed up 2 hours late because their van broke down? Are you kind to the checkout lady who seems to be mad at the world and is taking it out on you because you happen to be in her line? Are you good to those who just quite frankly aren't good to you first? If you have made the decision to ask Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and are actively pursuing a close walk with Him as a result, whether or not your fruit flourishes if totally up to you. Believe me when I say, if you are NOT pursuing that close walk I mentioned by inviting Him daily (minute by minute actually) into all your life affairs, your fruit is going to suffer greatly and you can all but forget about showing kindness and goodness to those who don't necessarily deserve it in the moment. Only an eager pursuit of Jesus produces fruit to make the seemingly impossible, possible. 

Faithfulness. In a world that wants nothing more than for us to believe that God is a hate-monger who is always interfering with consenting adult's temporary fun and fulfillment, do you staunchly stand for and believe the opposite? Are you willing to draw a line in the sand, even if it means standing alone at times, to believe it when God says He is working all things out for the good of those He loves? Do you know deep down in your soul that God is exactly who He says He is, which is the Creator of the universe and of all mankind, having made us in the image of Jesus Christ? And believing this, are you willing to take a stand for the things that the bible clearly lays out in black and white knowing that, even if you don't understand them all perfectly, HE DOES and He has a perfect purpose for all of life's parameters? Faithfulness is believing what the bible says about God. His existence, His works and His character. Is He or is He not worthy of your devotion? Is He or is He not worthy of your obedience? Is He or is He not worthy of your believing that every word recorded in the bible was from Him and for your general good? God doesn't place parameters on us because He hates us. For heaven's sake! He puts parameters around us because it's like His defense shield, keeping Satan at bay. We do the same thing for our own children every day! Of course we don't allow them to blindly wander off after every nook and cranny of life because it happens to make them feel good in the moment. If you do, frankly your parenting stinks. The fruit of faithfulness is alive and well in your life when you stop trying to change God's word to match your social agendas. You do not know what is best for this world. Period. In fact, you know about 1/1,000,000,000,000,000 to infinity of what God knows, so really we just need to take a seat and shut it. Trust that God has it. Trust that He knows what He's doing with His own creation. Trust that He knows more than you. Trust that He is working for your good in all circumstances and your faithfulness fruit will flourish.

Gentleness. Self-control. It takes a lot of self-control to be gentle with people sometimes, doesn't it? Much like kindness and goodness, gentleness towards those who are gentle is a walk in the park. Gentleness towards those who are hard and bitter is like taking a hammer to the thumb. It hurts because all we really want to do is give it right back and walk away high-fiving anyone within reach. How are your social media habits? Do you find yourself sucked into arguments often because it's so much easier these days to engage in verbal assaults from the comfort of your own couch? Do you find solace in taking your frustrations to Twitter or the ever horrifying comment section of someone's inflammatory article? Are political or racially motivated Facebook "Shares" the way you likely respond to issues of the day?

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

2 Timothy 2:24-25

When we respond to our opponents with gentleness, we literally show them Jesus in the flesh. Reacting in a way that is so counter to our own human emotions is only possible through the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a life that is just beaming with fruit. It's this fruit that sets us apart! It's our gentleness in these situations that makes people stop and wonder what the difference in us could be. After all, God was so gentle with us that He sent someone to DIE for us all while we were the hardest, most embittered people in the universe. He is still so gentle with us that even today He waits for even the vilest of humans to turn to Him for salvation, not wanting anyone to be separated from Him for all eternity when it's all said and done.

Self-control is no different. As human beings, we all suffer from a desire to do what pleases our flesh first. Every single one of us, apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, is equally liable to be sucked right into that sin of choice that Satan holds over our heads like a delicious little morsel. Going back to the fruit of faithfulness, we try everything to convince ourselves that what is plainly written in God's word doesn't really mean what it most definitely means. Our sin is always justifiable isn't it? Without the practiced and seasoned fruit of self-control in your life, persistently falling back into the "same 'ol, same 'ol" patterns of sin is highly likely. This will only change when you decide to allow Jesus to have access to every area of your life, not just the pretty ones. He has to have access to the ugliest stuff... the drinking, the drugs, the sex, the lying, the greed, the gossip, the perfectionism, the fighting, the selfishness, the pride, the anger and all the rest. It's only when you relinquish your own, "I can handle it." attitude that Jesus will sweep in, sweep up and clean your house in a way that you'll never want to dirty it again. He will slowly, but surely change your desires with every instance of self-control exhibited. You can absolutely take my word on this one.

Again considering those in close proximity to me as I write, it is a must that I share the following verse and accompanying explanation. As I mentioned above, sometimes when we experience little to no lack in our lives, it becomes easier to convince ourselves that we don't truly need saving. After all, what could we possibly need saving from when we have all the means to provide for ourselves anything we might need? In these cases, our beliefs remain at a shallow, surface level and we are in danger of living our whole lives as the fruitless fig tree in the following story. 

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Matthew 21:18-19

The meaning of this short story can easily be missed, just as I initially did, until I heard it explained by several different biblical sources. Jesus and His disciples, after a long time of traveling, were hungry and spotted a fig tree in the distance. It had leaves on it leading the men to think that they could count on it to provide the nourishment they needed at that moment. But, as they approached, Jesus realized that the leaves were just for show and the tree itself was completely void of actual fruit. So, he curses the tree and the tree withers and dies. The tree with the pretty leaves are those individuals who may outwardly appear to be Christians, saying some of the right things, knowing some of the right stories, but who inwardly possess no spiritual fruit. There is no love, no kindness, no gentleness, no faithfulness, no self-control, no evidence whatsoever of a relationship with Jesus Christ Himself. There is only checklist religion, which has never saved anyone and never produced one ounce of fruit.

Y'all, if you take away nothing else from this post, take this. Do not get caught with your pretty leaves flying and have no actual fruit to show for them because your entire tree is going to get cursed and sent to a place it doesn't want to go. Not trying to scare anyone. I'm just telling you the truth. The act of true repentance before God doesn't just involve telling Him a story about your sins. It is an actual, physical, turning away from those sins to pursue a life following Christ. It is in the following of Christ where the fruit first begins to bud, then flower, then flourish. It isn't an overnight life cycle. It takes years of time, attention and pruning to bring that fruit to it's full potential. But, if you never got that repentance step right including the actual turning away from your sinful lifestyle, all you have are empty leaves that will eventually be removed from the tree all together. Self-sacrifice is hard. No one is denying that. But please take Jesus at His word when He tells us more than once that there is a place called Hell where people will go who decide that living for self is just to grand a prize to give up. Please don't end up a fruitless fig tree when God is giving you this time, right now, waiting so patiently for you to give your whole life over to Him. No amount of daily sacrifice will be worse than the eternal separation of the fruitless from the fruitful and personally I desire nothing more than to one day spend eternity with all those in my current hometown after moving together into our heavenly new one.