What Does It Mean to be Fruit-Filled? — Part 2

5. 

   Next, we come upon the facet of kindness. Kindness is the doing of little things in little ways that reflect the character of God. We demonstrate the love of Christ in the way we relate to the average person in the average day doing the average thing.

Kindness is the opening of a door for someone, the offering of a drink of water, the allowing of someone to go ahead of us in line.  It is the living out of the Golden Rule in a way that simply acknowledges that each person in our world is someone worthy of attention and assistance even in the smallest way.

Sometimes, the act of kindness is in a heart-felt word of encouragement.  Sometimes, it’s the lending of a hand in lifting a burdensome object, either figurative or literal.  The act of kindness is not random, but it is a way of living and caring and seeing and doing.  It is seeing the world through the eyes of Christ and living it out by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Kindness is not something that expects gratitude, but it never ceases to be grateful.  It’s a smile, a pat on the back, a nod in support.  It’s the little things we do to help others get by in a little easier way.

6. We come to goodness in the list of fruit that Paul writes about. The word translated as “goodness” suggests a righteousness accompanied by kindness.  A good person is the one who stands for what is right, makes it known what he stands for, but doesn’t look down on those who disagree.  Think of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.  His advice to the accusers was to let the first one without sin cast the first stone.  When all her accusers left her, Jesus informed her that He didn’t condemn her, either, but that she was to go and sin no more.  That’s a goodness that those who have the fruit of the Spirit also possess goodness.  An ability to look at sin, call it what it his, but refrain from throwing stones in angry judgment towards sinners.
7. Faithfulness seems to be a redundancy, since it is by faith that we are saved, yet the Bible adds this quality to the fruit of the Spirit. Faithfulness is the ability to stay true to something regardless of the winds of change or circumstances that surround us.

Think of a sports fan.  Almost every sports fan has a favorite team.  There are those who become fans when a team is doing well, but quickly abandon the team when that same team does poorly.  These are fair-weather fans.  Almost all of us can think of such teams and fans.  A true fan, though, is one who stays loyal through thick and thin.

Someone who is faithful, though, stays true regardless of the record.  A faithfulness that is loyal, dependable, consistent is what Paul is referring to in this passage.  Barnabas comes to mind when I think of a faithful person in the Bible.  He had faith in John Mark, even when the latter abandoned Paul and Barnabas in the middle of the first missionary journey.  When it was time for a second journey, Barnabas wanted to give the young man a second chance; Paul didn’t.  The result was that Paul took Silas with him, while Barnabas took John Mark with him on a different missionary journey.  That’s the faithfulness that is meant here.

8. The next to last facet of the fruit is gentleness. This is an asset that, like the others, is found in a deep faith in God, and allows others to have their way when we seek different things. Recalling Paul’s words in Romans regarding the “strong” believer and the “weak” believer.  The strong abstains from that which offends or threatens the weak believer.  Rather than cause harm, the gentle believer will waive his or her right.  It is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is a strength that comes from the recognition that God would have us serve others.  Think of Jesus in the upper room washing the disciples’ feet.  There were a lot of things going on in that act, but one of the things that was being demonstrated was Jesus’ gentleness in regard to His disciples who, only moments before, were arguing which of the 12 would be greatest in Jesus’ coming kingdom.
9. Self-control has been discussed in a previous entry in this blog (see the December 18 entry, “Self-control or Spirit-control?”). Restated briefly, self-control is the ability and willingness to say no to self in order to say yes to the Father’s will as revealed through His Spirit.
10. From Ephesians 5:9, there are two other elements found in the “fruit of the light”—righteousness and truth. Righteousness is often taken from a Hebrew legal term meaning to be found in the right, to be in good standing.  Thinking of football reviews of plays or calls, there are calls that are overturned, calls that are allowed to stand, and plays that are confirmed.  The last one—confirmed calls—are calls that the video shows that there is no question the call was right in the first place.  Those who are righteous in Christ are ones who are found to be walking with Him in closeness of fellowship.

Truth is an adherence to what is valid as opposed to fake or unreal.  To walk in truth requires a discerning spirit, one that is open to what is being said, but is also able to distinguish between that which is from God—the truth—and that which is from Satan—the false.  Knowing that which is true is found in those who are faithful to follow Jesus’ commandments (“If you hold to My teachings, you are really My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”—John 7:31-32).

Conclusion

I can think of nothing that is more important to the genuine follower of Christ than to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.  It contains every element that makes a believer a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).  It allows the outward expression of our faith and our commitment to the Lord in such a way that others can see Him in us. I believe that’s part of what Paul meant when he wrote, “Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20b).  If we want to be identified with Christ, then we must let the fruit be evident in us.