When I am united with the one true and living God my life is
characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22,23). Paul calls
these characteristics “the fruit of the Spirit,” because my behavior would not
display these qualities if it were not for the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit
of Christ, living in me. I was chosen before the creation of the world to be
conformed to the likeness of Christ, and that is what the fruit of the Spirit
is – the character of Christ in me. The list starts with love because God is
love and ends with self-control because the things I do are still my actions,
but the “self” who is doing them is not “I alone,” but “I in union with God.”
The self-control that is the fruit of the Spirit is control by a new me,
redeemed and recreated by the God of the universe. You might say that, since I
became a new creation, the love of God controls me. Of course all that I
have said applies equally to you, my brother or sister in Christ,
because you also love Him and want to be like Him.
You might ask, “Why then do I sometimes act out of
character? Why do I sometimes loose my
peace? When Jesus told Nicodemus he
must be born again, he asked Jesus, “How can that be? Can I enter my mother’s
womb a second time and be born?” Jesus told him he was talking about spiritual
things that are every bit as real as earthly things. Your spiritual
birth is as real as your natural birth, but the life you continue to live in
the body is by faith. Paul tells you to be transformed by the renewing of your
mind. That takes place as you yield by faith to the Holy Spirit within you, and
grow in your knowledge of God and yourself in Christ. My next post will be about
yielding, and demolishing strongholds, speculations, and every lofty thing,
raised up against the knowledge of God.
