“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)
When I was in college, I took an elective course in photography. It was in the days of cameras that used photographic film. Moreover, all the photography we did in the class were in black and white and we were to do our own photographic development and printing. It was very interesting.
In the process of developing the negatives and the prints, one of the critical things was getting the contrasts correct. It required precision in both taking the original picture and in the processing.
While experimenting with this technique, I discovered that it was possible to get some interesting effects using extreme contrast. It was possible in the development to eliminate all the gray scale and modify a print so there was just black and white.
In life there are certain things that are perfect contrasts. In the Christian life this is especially so. There is a complete contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. We could express this contrast as black or white with no gray areas.
In the previous devotion we looked at diagnosing our spiritual condition by looking at the works of the flesh listed by Paul as examples of four categories of the issue. Here, in the fruit of the Spirit, we have the extreme contrasts to those works of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” are the positive indications that we can use to diagnose our spiritual condition.
Just as a doctor uses specific tests to determine our physical health, we can examine our spiritual health by assessing our daily walk and how we handle the situations of life.
Let us look at an example. When someone does something of which we disapprove, how do we respond? Do we get angry, blow up, come to fisticuffs, or harbor bitterness and angst against the person? Or do we demonstrate the contrasting fruit of the Spirit? That is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” If we are not demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in our emotions and actions, we are not living by the Spirit’s leading. Thus, if we are not led by the Spirit, we are being led by the flesh.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, while all believers still on occasion sin, the occasional slip up is still no excuse. In those cases, we have stumbled and rely on the infinite mercy of God. We claim the precious promise of the cleansing provided for us by Jesus. John wrote of this, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, ESV). Moreover, in these situations the Spirit prompts us to repent, that is purpose in our hearts to turn from such a mindset and seek the ways of God.
Then we have the contrast of the unbeliever. In the same situation, driven by the flesh, the unbeliever will often justify his loss of control or shrug it off. While the unbeliever may at some point think rationally and regret the action taken, there is no indwelling power to grant victory in the moment. So characteristically the unbeliever carries on responding in a fleshly manner to the same type of situation repeatedly with little or no progress in curbing the problem.
Again, we who believe should use the positive side to examine our responses to life’s struggles. Are our actions characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?” If not, we need to examine our spiritual condition.
Renewing the Heart 