OK, that was misleading, but I enjoyed it. See, at least I was honest....right AFTER being misleading!
I am going to start a series and, over the next few days, talk about the different fruits of the spirit....except that there are no fruits. There is fruit (singular), but not fruits (plural).
Who cares? Well, we all should, because it is a huge distinction. If it is the "fruits" of the Spirit, then we can pick and choose. We can have one fruit that we are really good at and others that just aren't our specialty. But that's not how the verse works. It is "fruit." Each word that follows is a different aspect of a single "fruit" and that is what happens when we allow our lives to be lived by the power (and influence) of the Holy Spirit. ALL of them are applicable to us and equally applicable. None of them stands above the rest. This isn't the progression that we saw in 2 Peter 1. This is a large list that is all just as important.
I actually just looked up the Greek word and thought it was kind of cool. The word that is here is karpos. It can either mean, literal fruit, or it can mean "that which originates from something else, an effect, result."
How clear is that? Fruit grows from a tree. The tree itself does the work of bringing in the nutrients and the fruit grows. The fruit is evidence of a healthy tree. The fruit can't grow without the tree. In fact, if you pick fruit early it will never get ripe...because it can't become what it is supposed to be without the tree feeding it.
Guess what? Same thing for us. This is the "fruit" of the Spirit. We can't just look at this list and go "Yup, I'm going to work on being more patient now because I can see that I'm lacking it in my life." I mean, we can see where we are lacking and pray about it, but we aren't going to get it the right way simply by bending our will to it. No, this is fruit of the Spirit. This is about surrendering our lives to God (control....anyway here it?? Yes, this is a control issue) and then allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us.
No, I am not a Pentecostal. I think that they are to one extreme about the Holy Spirit and they OVER emphasize his role. However, Baptists have a terrible, but legitimate, reputation for UNDER emphasizing the Holy Spirit and that is to our detriment. We need to have a healthy love and respect (yes, I just spelled "worship) for the Holy Spirit, just as we do for God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Lord willing, I hope to get to the first aspect of the effect of the Spirit on our lives: love.
I am going to start a series and, over the next few days, talk about the different fruits of the spirit....except that there are no fruits. There is fruit (singular), but not fruits (plural).
Who cares? Well, we all should, because it is a huge distinction. If it is the "fruits" of the Spirit, then we can pick and choose. We can have one fruit that we are really good at and others that just aren't our specialty. But that's not how the verse works. It is "fruit." Each word that follows is a different aspect of a single "fruit" and that is what happens when we allow our lives to be lived by the power (and influence) of the Holy Spirit. ALL of them are applicable to us and equally applicable. None of them stands above the rest. This isn't the progression that we saw in 2 Peter 1. This is a large list that is all just as important.
I actually just looked up the Greek word and thought it was kind of cool. The word that is here is karpos. It can either mean, literal fruit, or it can mean "that which originates from something else, an effect, result."
How clear is that? Fruit grows from a tree. The tree itself does the work of bringing in the nutrients and the fruit grows. The fruit is evidence of a healthy tree. The fruit can't grow without the tree. In fact, if you pick fruit early it will never get ripe...because it can't become what it is supposed to be without the tree feeding it.
Guess what? Same thing for us. This is the "fruit" of the Spirit. We can't just look at this list and go "Yup, I'm going to work on being more patient now because I can see that I'm lacking it in my life." I mean, we can see where we are lacking and pray about it, but we aren't going to get it the right way simply by bending our will to it. No, this is fruit of the Spirit. This is about surrendering our lives to God (control....anyway here it?? Yes, this is a control issue) and then allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us.
No, I am not a Pentecostal. I think that they are to one extreme about the Holy Spirit and they OVER emphasize his role. However, Baptists have a terrible, but legitimate, reputation for UNDER emphasizing the Holy Spirit and that is to our detriment. We need to have a healthy love and respect (yes, I just spelled "worship) for the Holy Spirit, just as we do for God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Lord willing, I hope to get to the first aspect of the effect of the Spirit on our lives: love.
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