I pray over all of the posts that I write, but this one has been sitting a little differently on my heart. I will have a clear vision of how I think is going to come out, but in the next breath it will have morphed into something a little different. Even now, as I’m typing out a first draft, I know that God is going to direct this and it’s not going to be what I had originally intended. That’s your disclaimer.
For over a week, I’ve been thinking about Galatians 5. This is where we find the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit, among other things. I remember being a kid, probably 10 or 11, and thinking kind of hopelessly that I had a very long way to go. I was mostly good. I was mostly kind. I was mostly a lot of it… but I also had some pretty big flesh issues that I couldn’t seem to shake loose of.
It’s discouraging hearing all of the ways that we’re to live – holy, blameless, and set apart – but we’re so powerless to do it. We think we’re doing well and then someone says something snarky. Maybe you have somewhere to be and the person driving in front of you can’t seem to find the gas pedal to at least go the speed limit (oh, yes… this one gets me almost every time). No matter what it is that has us flipping tables when we shouldn’t, the point is that we can so easily be set off. What hope is there? What can we possibly do?
Many of you might recall from previous posts that I took some time away from my faith. Years. I kept thinking that there was no point. I could do what I knew to do to be saved – ask Jesus into my heart – but there never seemed to be a confidence in my new identity. I understood that I could get saved, but then I had to make sure to keep it. I had to make sure to produce the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of the flesh.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
I grew up believing that once I asked Jesus into my heart (or pick however you understood salvation), I needed to take up my cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). I understood this to an extreme level. The cross meant a horrific, torturous death! It meant that I was going to face what Jesus died to save me from. What then was the point of Jesus going to the cross? And did anyone else hear said that when we sin, we’re making Jesus die on the cross all over again? That one did me in.
Again, this was my logic starting around the time I was a preteen. And none of it jived. I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to understand the disconnect enough to articulate any kind of question. I didn’t know what to ask, how to ask, or who to ask.
What I heard from the pulpit was the typical list of all the things we needed to do in order to be a good Christian. You need to read your Bible. You need to pray. You need to go to church. You need to confess every sin. You need to blah, blah, blah. The list never seemed to end, and grace was buried so deep that it was hardly even there.
Do I believe we need to go to church? Yes. Absolutely! When you’re not part of the flock, you’re more likely to get picked off by the wolves. Should you read your Bible? Um, how else will you get to know God? People complain all the time about how they never hear God, but they don’t read His letters to us! And what about prayer?
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT
Never stop praying… When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God heard their groanings (Exodus 2:24). He heard their hearts crying out for deliverance. They had reached the point that they had no words. I’ve definitely not suffered the way they did, but I have come to God with no words… no ability to form words and not even sure what I was seeking by coming to Him. But never stop praying.
Please keep in mind, that prayer doesn’t have to be a Dear heavenly Father… Amen. It is simply a conversation. It is including God in your day, sharing with Him everything He already knows… and sometimes it’s a jumbled mess that comes out as a gut-wrenching groan.
What about confessing every sin? It’s not humanly possible to confess every single sin. And why would we be instructed to bring to God’s attention what He has chosen to remember no more (Hebrews 8:12, Jeremiah 31:34, and Isaiah 43:25)? But it’s not sin that we’re to be confessing. It’s the confession of our need and reliance on Him. We’re lost without Him! Without Him we’re groaning into nothingness with no hope of rescue.
It’s unfortunate that most of the bondage felt by Christians has come from religion. While going to church, reading the Word, recognizing our need for a Savior, and being in relationship with God are all good things and good for us, they were never meant to be chains binding us, but rather a joyous expectation as a response to His love for us.
It’s plainly stated in the opening of Galatians 5:22-23 that it is not on us to produce the fruit. It is not on us to carry the burden of doing everything perfectly in order to produce good fruit. But the Holy Spirit produces… not us in our own strength, but the Holy Spirit working through us. We could never have earned our salvation through living a perfect life, so why do we seem to assume that we have the ability to keep it by living perfectly?
While it’s easy to focus on how so much of religion has misunderstood grace, it’s easy to feel the pressure to perform – to produce the good fruit – I felt peace in my whole being when God revealed to me that I am in His hands, and no one can snatch me out (John 10:28-29). And I’m so excited about the fruit that I see the Spirit producing as I continue to struggle with the distractions of this world.
The fruit produced by the Spirit isn’t simply for my edification. It’s for everyone I encounter, whether on a grand scale or a seemingly insignificant level. It’s how Jesus shines through me. It’s how others get to see Him…to taste His fruit and want more of it. I want to represent well, but I have a settled peace that I don’t carry that burden.
My burden, your burden, is accepting this gift. Agree with God that you are who He says you are. You’re the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:21). You’re His beloved child (I John 3:1-2). We are holy and set apart because of Jesus (Hebrews 10:14). There is nothing – nothing – that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39).
As we try to wrap our mind around what Jesus did for us to make a way for us to be with Him, the fruit will be produced through us almost effortlessly. I’m ready to accept this gift – are you?
