Spiritual Growth

Galatians 5:22-23

Posted on by chgruver

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)

 

This is one of those verses that almost every Christian knows, but is probably one in which many of us don’t fully understand. There is often the question that some will ask of how many fruit are there, or some people may state that they don’t understand why fruit is singular. If you were to ask me I think the reason why it is singular is more to indicate how these 9 qualities are part of a whole. If fruit was plural indicating multiple fruit of the spirit then we would want to pick and choose which fruit we wanted, much like with a fruit plate if you don’t like strawberries or pineapple you can just ignore them and eat the blueberries, bananas, and cantaloupe.

 

I think that is why many of us look at this verse and want it to be talking about multiple fruit. Some of the qualities are easier to exhibit than other, so we want to pick and choose which qualities we exhibit ourselves. I mean often times kindness, goodness, and faithfulness are easy to exhibit, and depending on the person we can probably show love with no problem. It is when you look at the qualities of patience and self-control that it becomes hard. We at times want to say can’t we just focus on five out of the nine? Isn’t that good enough?

 

How we should look at the fruit of the spirit is more like one fruit with these nine aspects. Take a Fuji apple for instance; it has a specific taste, sweetness, tartness, texture, smell, nutrition value, etc. It has a number of characteristics and aspects that differentiate it from a strawberry or even a Red Delicious or Granny Smith apple. So much like the different parts that make up an apple, the fruit of the spirit are the different aspects that make up our spiritual life, that as they are brought to fullness we become more of the person God has created us to be.

 

So you see there is a reason why Paul said “the fruit of the spirit is” and not the “fruits of the spirit are;” because it is basically all or nothing. As a believer each of these nine qualities that Paul mentions should be expressed in our lives as it shows the Holy Spirit working in and through us. It is a litmus test of sorts for a changed life, I mean an unbeliever might be able to exhibit many of these qualities, but a believer will exhibit them all. I mean a Jolly Rancher is sweet and often tastes just like different fruit; and a plastic fruit may have the shape, color, and general look of real fruit; but they are imitators and not the real thing as they do not have all of the qualities that make up the fruit they are made to taste or look like.

 

So examine yourself, ask God to come and help develop all aspects of the fruit of the Spirit in your life, to help you grow spiritually into the person He has created you to be.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Posted on by chgruver

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1 Peter 1:6-7
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

One of the biggest misconceptions we face as Christians is that once we come to Christ life will be easy. That if we just have enough faith we will never have any problems. The issue is when we look at Scripture we are never told this, in fact we are told quite the opposite many times. Jesus himself told us many times to expect persecution for being a Christian and here in James, and the sentiments are mirrored in 1 Peter, that we are to not just expect problems, trials, tribulation, or persecution but we are to take joy in it. We see it in James 1:2, “Count it all joy,” and Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:6, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,”

You see there is a reason for trials, in that much like physical growth we have to encounter some pain. Peter tells us it tests the genuineness of our faith. Peter uses the imagery of  refining gold, this is a process where the gold ore is melted down, or in Peter’s time a combination of acidic substances and heat were used to melt away the impurities from the gold. No matter which era you were refining gold in it is a process that put the ore through some harsh treatment in order to get as much of the impurities out of the gold as possible.

The problem is that no one likes to go through trials, I know some of the classes in college I hated the most were the ones that challenged me the most. It was because they were not easy, but it was also in those classes that I probably learned the most. Much like in our Christian lives we all want that mountain top experience, and we never want it to end. We enjoy that feeling when we are close to God, and everything seems to be going right. The problem is with our spiritual life in that state, much like on the top of a mountain, nothing grows. It is in the valleys where the growth happens. So when you go through the valleys take joy and remember that God is still working on you to help you grow and purify your faith.

1 Peter 3:15

Posted on by chgruver

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“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

This verse is one that is so theologically rich that I am not sure how to properly approach it and do it justice for a short devotional. This is a verse that is used often as the basis for a study known as Apologetics where one defends their faith, thus it also has implications for evangelism as you are sharing your faith with unbelievers. If you ask me however, I feel that while those are important aspects of the verse when it is put into the context of its section in 1 Peter 3 and even in the context of 1 Peter as a whole this verse seems to be getting at more than defending our faith or even evangelism. This verse is talking about our actions as Christians, it is talking about our holiness.

Let’s look at 1 Peter 3:13-17 together:

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

You see when you read 1 Peter you notice Peter charging Christians to live holy lives and this verse comes right smack in the middle of 1 Peter, where he states that they are being questioned about their hope. Holiness is the outward expression of our inward hope. It is this holiness this expression of our hope that causes people to take a look at us and notice we are different from the world. It is this outward expression of our hope that should be causing unbelievers to question us about the reasons for why we act the way we do. It is this outward expression of our hope that requires us to share and explain the Gospel to any we encounter.

Yes evangelism and apologetics are an important part of this verse. The thing is however, they are meaningless if our lives aren’t displaying the hope we have. Though just like it is stated in an often overused and misused phrase, “Preach the Gospel at all times; and if necessary use words,”  Remember people won’t listen to your words, if your actions don’t match.