When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. [John 15:8 (NLT)]
If there were a litmus test for Christians, it would not be pious words, powerful preaching, grandiose gestures, or even extraordinary feats; it would be the presence of the Fruit of the Spirit. If love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control aren’t evident in our lives, we may be talking the talk but we’re clearly not walking the walk. Jesus recognizes us by our fruit and, if we’re bearing the Fruit of the Spirit, people will see some of Christ in us.
It’s not always easy to exhibit the Spirit’s fruit and I’m reminded of Shirley who lived in our Colorado mountain town. Although the town’s bus service was free and frequent, we often saw her hitch-hiking around town. Carrying her ever-present travel mug of coffee, Shirley would stand in the middle of traffic and shout at drivers who passed without stopping. Although she maintained sobriety, years of hard living, drug and alcohol abuse, along with a traumatic brain injury had taken their toll. Shirley usually attended our church but she could be found at any church’s activity when free food was involved. Supported by family but living on her own, Shirley meant well but she was erratic and could be disruptive, muddled, and even volatile. When a pastor friend called her his “Jesus meter,” knowing Shirley, I understood what he meant. This challenging woman was his litmus test for Christlikeness!
While my friend’s “Jesus meter” was Shirley, ours could be the neighbor whose dog poops in our yard, the never-ending complainer at work, the perpetually late friend, a certain politician, or the relative who dithers about everything. Your meter may be tested by the customer service rep, aggressive drivers, or the person who takes your parking spot! While it’s different for each of us, we all have certain people and situations that rub us the wrong way, challenge our patience, or frustrate, annoy, and exasperate us. How we react in those challenging situations tells us where we stand on our “Jesus meter.” A low score on His meter tells us we’re not walking His walk!
When we encounter the Shirleys of the world, let us remember what Jesus said about loving our neighbor and doing for the “least of these.” Being a Christ follower doesn’t mean life will be without its temptations and challenges; there always will be people and situations that challenge our capacity to act as would Jesus. I suspect our Shirleys are part of God’s character building! They’ll try our patience, test our faith, challenge our self-control, and make us question our ability to love our neighbor. Flawed people that we are, we can’t bear Christ’s fruit on our power alone; it’s the power of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible! Nevertheless, sometimes we’ll get aggravated, exasperated, irritable, or anxious—times when we’ll fail to turn the other cheek, lose our tempers, and even say things we shouldn’t. When our “Jesus meter” fails to register, we must ask forgiveness, repent, take comfort in God’s grace, learn from our errors, reconnect with the Holy Spirit, and continue to grow on His vine.
God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality. Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity.[Rick Warren]
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. [John 15:4-5 (CSB)]
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Although the common position for prayer was standing, Jesus fell to His knees that night in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke describes Him as praying so intensely that His sweat dropped like blood. Having used the word hósei, meaning “as if it were, like, as, as though, or much like,” Luke may have meant Jesus sweat so profusely that it dripped from Him like blood. Nevertheless, Luke was a doctor who paid great attention to detail; he may have described hematidrosis, a rare medical condition in which the capillaries rupture causing blood to seep into the sweat glands and then out onto the skin. It’s caused by high blood pressure, a bleeding disorder, or extreme distress or fear, such as facing abuse, torture or death on the cross! Whether Jesus’ sweat poured off his body as if it were blood or He literally sweat blood, the Lord’s prayer was so intense that an angel came and strengthened Him.
Fowlers are professional bird catchers. In ancient Israel, they supplied the market with wild pigeons and doves destined for sacrifice, small birds (like quail) for food, and doves and other birds for caged pets. Since most of us get our poultry at the grocery, we’re probably unfamiliar with the fowler and his methods. To capture birds, fowlers spread nets or set traps and snares on the ground, camouflage them with natural materials, and cover them with grain. Tempted by the food, the birds leave the safety of the sky and come down to the ground where they are caught.
Over a period of 3,000 years, ancient Egypt’s pantheon of gods numbered between 1,400 and 2,000. During that time, some faded in prominence and new gods appeared. Often depicted as part human and part animal, Egypt’s gods had names, unique back-stories, and their own domain and expertise. Each god/goddess was responsible for a certain part of daily life, from motherhood to music, record keeping to funerals, and cosmic order to hunting. While the ten plagues God sent Egypt through Moses and Aaron may seem somewhat arbitrary to us in the 21st century, every one of them was a direct attack on one or more Egyptian god. They were the ultimate “smack-down” between God Almighty and Egypt’s deities.
Flawed people that we are, we want to play down our culpability before God by minimizing sin and thinking of some sins as less significant than others. We’d like to think if we avoid the “big ten” Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai that we’re good and righteous people. God didn’t stop telling us how to behave with those two tablets! What about the hundreds of commands we find in the New Testament? Can we truthfully say we do nothing “out of selfish ambition or conceit” while we do everything “without grumbling and arguing?” [Phil 2:3,14] Are we ever conceited, boastful, or envious? [Gal 5:26] Do we show favoritism or partiality? [James 2:3-4] How are we doing in the loving our enemies and praying for them, forgiveness, and self-denial departments? [Matt 5:22,44;16:24] Are we truly free of “malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander”? [1 Pet 2:1] Those sins are no less an affront to God than worshipping an idol or murdering a spouse. Every sin we commit damages our relationship with God.
Lent begins on Wednesday. Beginning with the solemn reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return and concluding with Christ’s victory over death on Easter Sunday, the season’s forty days represent the time the Lord spent alone in the wilderness, fasting in preparation for his ministry, and undergoing Satan’s temptations. A period of self-discipline and repentance, Lent often is observed by such things as contemplation, confession, prayer, fasting, moderation, service, and giving
Devotions of the Heart 