Not Finished Yet - I Am a Work In Progress - Be Patient With Me

Galatians 5:22-23 says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (NIV)

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" (NLT)

The only way we can always identify who is a real Christian, the one who lives under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit and who is not, is observing the fruit of their life.

Jesus made this really clear and easy. “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” ~ Matthew 7:20 – Not by their words. 

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ ~ Matthew 7:21-23 

Jesus is really clear about the fact that just because someone calls themselves his disciple, his follower, just because someone calls himself a Christian, or prays in Jesus’ name, or performs miracles in his name, means nothing without doing God’s will. It’s not the one who talks the talk, but the one who walks the walk who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The Bible says "I (Jesus) am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” ~ John 15:5 

Without Jesus we can do nothing. Absolutely nothing, so that means that whatever we do without Jesus is worth nothing. If we stay in him, then we will bear fruit. What kind of fruit? - The fruit of the Spirit. So why is important to be able to identify those who call themselves Christians (like=Christ)? Jesus wants us to discern who really his children are. Many might call and do things in Jesus’ name, but if their life does not produce the fruit of the Spirit, they are not abided in Jesus. 

The fruit of the Spirit is: 

Love: Undeserved loved. It’s great to receive God’s love, but does our life produce love? Do we extend love for those who hurt us? For those who sin against us?

“If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?” ~ Matthew 5:46

Joy: Joy is not happiness. Joy comes from the knowledge that my life is in God’s hands and in every circumstance God is in control. Why would people want to be Christians if all they see a bunch of sad, exhausted and anxious Christians?

Peace: The peace of God which exceeds anything that we can understand. I can tell you one thing my religious life didn’t gave me peace at all, until I turned my will, my desires, my entire life to God, until I let him take over and I became a branch…I know that peace. It has nothing to do with my circumstances.

Patience: not when people treat us well, not when there are no problems, not when everything is just perfectly peaceful, but having patience with those who make your life miserable, having patience when you feel screaming and kicking. To be able to even smile and realize this is not me, not at all…this is the fruit of the Spirit.

Kindness: not with those who are kind with you, but with those who are never kind. “If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that” ~ Matthew 5:47 Yes the standard is high and on our own we’ll never be able to get there. That’s why we need to stay in Jesus so it’s his Spirit who will transform us to produce the fruit that identifies us as God’s real children, real disciples.

Goodness: We have to live a life full of goodness with those around us that, though they might not believe in God now, but seeing our good deeds they will glorify God. (1Peter 2:12) Can we do it on our own? Only if we stay in Jesus. Only through his transforming Spirit.

Faithfulness: Stay faithful when makes no sense. Trust God and people when you feel running. God is faithful and we’ll be faithful only if we stay in him. How simple is that. We just have to stay abided in him, put him first in our life, give control to him and the rest is his work in us, because we just can’t do it on our own.

Gentleness:  “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” ~ Philippians 4:5. We have a natural tendency to be gentle with kids. God wants us to be gentle with others just as we would naturally be with a little baby. God uses us; he can only express his gentleness through us.  Do we let him use us? Or we just say that we do? A gentle word, a gentle hug or a gentle encouragement – when the last time God’s gentleness was was extended through you?

Self-Control: How important this is? Self control in everything we do: eating, working, talking, drinking, sleeping and the list goes on.  When someone is rude and mean to us, how do we respond? When we feel to eat those extra calories? When we work overtime and neglect our kids and spouses. When we don’t sleep enough? Without self control in every area of our life we will never be able to be the person God made us. Without God’s guidance we’re unable to apply self control in our lives. 

Without God we will never be able to produce good fruit. Without God we might do things for God, but not with God. And the Bible clearly puts it, that without him we can do nothing that matters for eternity. 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” ~ Psalm 139:23-24 

I really like the Message version: “Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about; See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life”. ~ Psalm 139:23-24 The Message 

We need to stop and let God search us and point out everything in our life that offends him. Cross –examine and test me. Why is important to cross-examine? Because its easy to become self righteous in our own eyes. We can easily point out other people’s sins, but do we see our own sin as God sees them? 

Ask God to point out everything that is not pleasing him, everything that is not from his Spirit, everything what has to do with self righteousness and pride and let God show you and correct you. You might be shocked what God will reveal to you about yourself, but that’s the only way to bring you to the path of everlasting life.  Let God’s Holy Spirit control your entire life and then he will produce the fruit of the Spirit. 

What do you think: is the fruit of the Spirit what identifies a real Christian from fake ones? How is this fruit visible or not in your life? What do you think about a pastor whose life doesn’t produce the fruit of the Spirit?