KEEPING IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT

There’s a saying that says we are not only to ‘talk the talk, but also walk the walk.’  There is to be integrity between what we say we believe, and how we behave from that belief.  That is especially true in our calling as Christians.  We are to make Jesus known by our witness.  But how we act is vitally important if our testimony is to be heard and valued.  So, what does a Christ-like life look like?  The Apostle Paul spells that out in Galatians 5 as he lists the fruit of the Spirit.  The ‘…fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’  This is an overall description of the kind of behaviour that results when a person has a living relationship with Jesus and is lived in by the Spirit.  It is behaviour that stems from a Christlike character.  This is important because your character is one of the biggest determinants in how you fare in life.  Billy Graham said, ‘When character is lost, all is lost.’  Jesus said, ‘By their fruit you will know them…!’  Your character shows itself by how you behave.  Your character determines how well you will do at work, in your marriage, relating in the community, doing ministry in the church.  In a Bible study group it was noted a few times that the key to sharing the gospel in our current culture is how we behave in the community.  There should be a discernible attractiveness about us that draws others to find out more about Jesus. 

The fruit of the Spirit is not our natural character.  It is the Spirit’s character.  The fruit of the Spirit is God’s character coming through in us.  Now all of us will struggle with relating our Christian behaviour to the character of God.  There is the story of the little boy who was disappointed with the smallness of the egg his chook laid.  So, he went down the street and came back with a large parcel.  He got down in front of the bantam, unwrapped the parcel and revealed an ostrich egg.  He took hold of the egg and said to his chook, ‘Take a good look at this and try harder.’  In a sense, there is as much chance for us to reproduce God’s character in our lives, as there is for the chook to lay an ostrich egg.  But we are called to strive for this because each of the characteristics are commanded in the Bible. 

So how do we go about developing the fruit of the Spirit in us?  First, we need to recognize that we have changed.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord, then a miracle has occurred in us.  We have been born again.  We have a whole new life.  And the source of that new life is the Spirit.  The second thing we need to do is ‘…keep in step with the Spirit.’  How does this work?  Imagine a person is blindfolded and you want them to walk around an obstacle course.  What’s the best way to help them do that?  Take them by the elbow and lead them as you walk beside them.  The blindfolded person needs to allow themselves to be led as they walk in their own strength.  That’s how Paul describes it in Galatians 5.  We are to be ‘led by the Spirit’ and ‘keep in step with the Spirit’.   

So, you get the picture.  Living by the Spirit very much involves us.  It involves our energy, our participation.  But where we go depends on us following the lead of the Spirit.  His leading is found in the Bible, which is the inspirational work of the Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit is the result of the inner working of the Holy Spirit.  It also requires our thinking, our passion, and our effort.  How the two go together is a mystery.  We give it all we have as if it all depends on us.  At the same time we pray to the Spirit and listen to his leading, knowing it’s all in his hand.  Benjamin Warfield wrote ‘It is the Spirit’s task to keep us in the path and to bring us finally to the goal.  But it is we who take every step.  Our limbs grow tired from the labour, our hearts grow faint, our faith that revives our sinking strength.’

To cultivate the fruit of the Spirit we also need the company of people; ordinary, stubborn, self-centred, selfish people.  All the fruit of the Spirit are relational.  You can’t develop humility if you live alone.  You can’t grow in patience if it is never tested by the stubbornness of other people.  So, we need each other to grow our character.  Others giving good examples of love and gentleness inspire us to do the same.  Those who come across ill-tempered can test and develop our self-control.  That’s why God has his people live in fellowship in the church.  Hopefully as we develop the fruit of the Spirit, we reveal more of Jesus himself and become very attractive to a community needing hope.

Rev Dr Leo Douma

(First written as weekly reflections for the Wamberal Christian Reformed Church bulletin)

.