Sometimes my husband, Ken… it feels like he knows me too well. Like the other day when I was a little blue, I was feeling kinda down and I didn’t want to make a big deal about it, so when I came home, I had (what I thought was) the cheeriest smile on my face, “Hi, how ya doin’, hon?!”And do you want to know what was his response? “Okay, what’s wrong?” That bugged me so badly. I mean, I really thought I was coming across okay. It just goes to show – especially around someone who knows you well – you can try to paint on a happy smile, you can put on a veneer of joy or put up a facade of gladness, but invariably you will be found out. You can only deceive yourself and others for so long with plastic peace.
Galatians 5 says that,“… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Those are the sorts of things that are so difficult, if not impossible to fake. You simply cannot manufacture goodness or faithfulness; you cannot manufacture gentleness, it’s a fruit of the Spirit.
It’s like trying to grow grapes the wrong way around. Like you go to the market, you get a nice plump cluster of grapes and then you bring them home and fastening them to the branches of a loose vine. Then you tie the roots of the vine to a trunk, and then dig a hole, and set the entire thing—trunk and all--into the ground. There you have it, manufactured fruit (incidentally, fruit that will rot quickly). What you’ve done is put first the fruit; second, the branches; third the root; and fourth, the soil. Friend, you’ve got it all backward.
God grows fruit in the opposite order. First, he starts with the soil – He plants the seed of His Word in the soil of our heart. The Spirit quickens us and the Word washes us with water and causes God’s Word to take root. Next, as we grow in the Lord, the vine grows, branches mature until patience, gentleness, kindness, joy, and peace begin to blossom – and there you have it: genuine fruit grown the right way, grown God's way… the fruit of the Spirit that comes from abiding in the Vine.
John 15 puts it this way. Jesus says, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Friend, you can’t be loving (just ask my husband) unless that love comes from Christ. You’ll never be patient unless that, too, comes from Jesus. Even goodness, even gladness – it’ll never happen (I mean really happen) unless it flows from an abiding relationship with the Lord. You and I can try to remind ourselves to be good… we can paint on a smile and put up a pretense of peace, but it won’t last very long. Others – especially those who know you well – will be able to see through the veneer. So, today abide in God's Word and rest in the Vine… and watch the fruit of the Spirit blossom and grow.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends