The Fruit of the Spirit: what it means to live by the Spirit and produce the fruit

This month I studied the Fruit of the Spirit which I briefly touched on in a previous post a couple years ago. However, this time I wanted to study it in more depth. Writing to the Galatian church, Paul discusses what it means to live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:14-26). Simply put, living by the Spirit is simply resisting the desires of the sinful nature as they are in conflict (verse 16-17). The acts of a sinful nature are listed in verse 19-21, including sexual immorality (which I will do an in depth study at a later date), hatred, jealousy and fits of rage. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (verses 22-23). We can see why our sinful natures would be in conflict with the Spirit. These are character traits found in the nature of Christ and as the Spirit grows in every believer, he or she will begin to exhibit the same Christ-like nature. 

Love is declared the greatest above all (1 Corinthians 13:13). To love others was commanded by Christ (Matthew 22-37-40, John 13:34-35). To love others is to help each other out in times of need or struggle. It doesn’t have to be monetary. It could be a phone call at 3 am. It could be answering a question for a stranger while at the store. Taking time out of your busy day, errands and schedule to help with a gracious heart. Essentially, as 1 Corinthians 16:14 says, “do everything in love.” Joy in a true believer is undeniable. It is that despite their struggles, despite their pain, they are joyfully seeking God’s guide, love and grace through their valleys as well as their mountain tops. Proverbs 17:22 says that “a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Sometimes it is hard to be joyful when life looks bleak; however, because we love Christ and believe in him, we are “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8). Peace is hard to imagine in this world as it seems we are always at odds with each other. But Christ tells that we will have trouble in this world but to take heart as he has conquered the world (John 16:33). We can claim the peace of Christ in the most troubled times as we know Jesus has already been victorious. 

Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate something without getting angry or upset. It is not rushing into a situation, into a relationship or a decision. Patience is something we all struggle with as we deal with frustration. Psalm 37:7 tells us to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. It is following God’s plan and timetable rather than our own. Patience is not just waiting but having the right mindset and attitude while we wait. Kindness is showing mercy to others, generosity with our time and resources, and being sympathetic. It is being civil. Proverbs 11:17 tells us that kindness is a benefit to those receiving the kindness as well as the one giving it. Kindness has a boomerang effect. Give kindness and you will receive kindness (although we all know it’s not always from the same person). The kind person honors God by sharing his resources with others and in return, God will bless him. Goodness is working for the benefit of others and not just ourselves. In Greek, the word for goodness is agathosune which means “an uprightness of heart and life.” It is not done for recognition but to bring glory and honor to God who loves us. In Galatians 6:10, Paul writes, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” To return goodness with goodness and overcome evil with goodness. 

Faithfulness is consistently doing what one says he will do. It is keeping your promises. It is fulfilling your duties as a follower of Christ. Another divine characteristic of God as He does as He promises. Hebrews 10:23 says “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Faithfulness is being reliable and trustworthy. It is being steadfast until the very end. Despite our struggles. Despite the world coming in around us. Gentleness is tender, compassionate, tenderness and consideration. It means showing love and care for others in how you act and speak. It is to have a soft spirit or nature. Gentleness is also humility. Humility in reference to who God is and it is not self-hatred or to see yourself as unvalued but to think of yourself less. Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Humility is seeing that apart from God, we can do nothing of worth (John 15:5). Self-control is the discipline to resist the sinful nature. Jesus perfectly demonstrates this disciple during his time in the desert. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus is tempted by Satan and does not give in. Self control is also not rushing into a fight without a thought. It is to gather all the information before making a decision. “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” (Proverbs 25:28). 

In conclusion, the word fruit is singular which highlights that these attributes are intertwined, growing in harmony with and interacting with each other. Living by the Spirit and bearing the Fruit of the Spirit is not something we can do on our own. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As each believer exhibits these behaviors, it can be viewed as the Spirit winning the conflict with our flesh (Galatians 5:17). The fruit of the Spirit are not something we can work on to achieve but flows naturally when we abide or walk in the Spirit. How do we do that? By prayer and studying His Word. “It is living moment by moment in dependency on Him, to listen for His Voice and be obedient to it” (Charles Stanley). Living by the Spirit and exhibiting the fruit is a daily activity. Some days we can be on point and others we will need help. But God is faithful to those who live by faith. 

Unless by Carol Shields: a review

“Unless” by Carol Shields is the story of a woman, Reta, who faces a crisis when her oldest daughter, Norah, who decides to drop out of college and panhandle on the street corner in Toronto. Norah says nothing and only has a sign which reads GOODNESS. This book would be Ms. Shields’ last book as she passed away on July 16, 2003 after a battle with breast cancer at the age of 68.
The story opens in the summer of 2000. Reta, a writer in her mid-forties, lists her writing accomplishments and the life events that occurred alongside them. The birth of her children and her friendship and working relationship with fellow writer Danielle Westerman. Her husband, Tom, is a doctor. It was confusing as to what type of doctor Tom is. She writes in one chapter: “Tom, who is a family physician and has a broad scientific background” and throughout the rest of the book, Tom is researching trilobites, a fossil group of extinct marine arthropods. Why would a family physician be studying trilobites? Is this a hobby? Ms. Shields doesn’t make this clear. The main story is Reta’s mission to figure out why her daughter, Norah, would drop out of college and panhandle on the street. Her mission as well as her writing a second novel. Reta begins to realize that women authors aren’t named among the great minds and resents her editor when he suggests that men protagonists make for better sellers.
“Unless” was a very difficult book to read. First, Reta is very unsympathic. As I read, I couldn’t help but realize that I didn’t care about her, her writing or her mission to have women author be counted among the greats. Ms. Shields’ assumption that women seen as good to write “domestic” subjects such as romance novels and that women writers have to have a male protagonist. When she is clearly ignoring many women authors who write female protagonists outside the domestic scene. For example, Patricia Cornwell and her Dr Kay Scarpetta. Second, Ms. Shields likes to use big and obscure words with little clue as to their meaning. I have a fairly good vocabulary and if I don’t know the words I’m usually good at figuring them out by the sentences around them or I look the word up just to clarify my understand. However, in this book, there were 4 words that were so obscure that the sentences around them did not help in their understanding. For example, lachrymose was used in this sentence, “’She is such a lachrymose woman.’ I once heard a man say that disdainfully about his sister; he might have been talking about me in my present state.” For those who don’t know, lachrymose means to cause tears or cry often. What about that sentence helps the reader understand the meaning if he or she doesn’t already know? Third, Reta’s “feminist” mission irritated me. It was a constant borage of “what about women?” The character’s letters to various authors and even one man’s obituary about their omission of women authors was overdone. Reading it, I was thinking “Ok, I get it. Women don’t get the same acknowledge as men.”
The letter to the man who just died was a little creepy and just wrong. The only aspect of this book that I did like was the reason behind Norah’s crisis. The author does give a little foreshadowing but if the reader isn’t reading closely, he or she will miss it. Unfortunately, the rest of the book, the characters are so bland that I kept looking and saying “how many more pages?” and when I do that I know it’s not a good book.
Before writing my review, I wanted to get the impression of other readers, in case I was missing something about the book. I went to goodreads.com and while those who liked the book were already fans of Ms. Shields, many of the reviewers had the same problems I did. One reviewer wrote “I didn’t like the idea that flowed thru this book that women are oppressed and of no significance to men.” Another wrote, “self-congratulatory and trite.” Lastly, a reviewer wrote, “The character was too self-absorbed.”
“Unless” was a boring book about a woman struggling with her life, her writing and places the blame on the men who do not acknowledge the accomplishments of women.