Galatians 5:22-23, there is a fake version of this fruit that you can manufacture on your your own, you can fake peace by just numbing yourself with entertainment or alcohol, that is not peace, that is avoidance. You can fake patience by just bottling up your anger until you explode, that is not patience, that is repression. You can fake kindness by being nice to people, only so they will do what you want, that is not kindness, that is manipulation. The real fruit of the Holy Spirit feels different, it is not strained, it is not frantic, it brings life to the people around you. Why does Paul use the analogy of fruit, why not the works of the Holy Spirit, because fruit cannot be forced. You cannot walk up to an apple tree and yell at it, make apples. You cannot demand that a tree producer fruit instantly and you certainly cannot staple plastic apples onto the branches and fool anyone.
Fruit is a natural byproduct of a healthy life, if a tree is healthy, if it has water, sunlight and good soil, it will naturally produce fruit, it does not struggle and sweat to do it, it just happens, the tree does not focus on the fruit, it focuses on the roots. This is the secret of the Christian life that so many people miss, you spend all your time trying to fix the fruit, you try to force yourself to be more patient, you try to guilt yourself into being more loving, but that never works for long. Paul is saying, you need to focus on the root, if you want to be more patient, do not just try harder to be patient, spend more time time with Jesus, as you stay connected to him, his life flows into you and patience will begin to grow naturally. It might be slow, just like real fruit takes a season to ripen, but it will happen, you cannot rush the harvest, but if you stay connected to the Holy Spirit, the harvest is inevitable.
Ephesians 1:13-14, what exactly is this inheritance? Paul writes that if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise, that believers are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit himself is the down payment, the guarantee that the rest is coming. This is to a small bequest, this is everything God owns and it was locked in a will that could not be opened until death occurred, Hebrews 9:14-17, this changes everything about how you understand the cross. If you only see the cross as punishment, you will spend your life feeling like a criminal who got pardoned, but if you see the cross as the activation of a will, you realize you are not a pardoned criminal, you are a named heir. The will was written with you in mind and the death that activated it was voluntary, planned and filled with love.
Fruit is a natural byproduct of a healthy life, if a tree is healthy, if it has water, sunlight and good soil, it will naturally produce fruit, it does not struggle and sweat to do it, it just happens, the tree does not focus on the fruit, it focuses on the roots. This is the secret of the Christian life that so many people miss, you spend all your time trying to fix the fruit, you try to force yourself to be more patient, you try to guilt yourself into being more loving, but that never works for long. Paul is saying, you need to focus on the root, if you want to be more patient, do not just try harder to be patient, spend more time time with Jesus, as you stay connected to him, his life flows into you and patience will begin to grow naturally. It might be slow, just like real fruit takes a season to ripen, but it will happen, you cannot rush the harvest, but if you stay connected to the Holy Spirit, the harvest is inevitable.
Ephesians 1:13-14, what exactly is this inheritance? Paul writes that if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise, that believers are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit himself is the down payment, the guarantee that the rest is coming. This is to a small bequest, this is everything God owns and it was locked in a will that could not be opened until death occurred, Hebrews 9:14-17, this changes everything about how you understand the cross. If you only see the cross as punishment, you will spend your life feeling like a criminal who got pardoned, but if you see the cross as the activation of a will, you realize you are not a pardoned criminal, you are a named heir. The will was written with you in mind and the death that activated it was voluntary, planned and filled with love.
