I am not my own.
I have been bought with a price.
I am no longer living for me, but for the One who has called me His own, and set me apart to be included in His Holy Nation.
Do you agree with these statements? The vast majority of Christians will say yes, but how many of them live like it? How are we supposed to conduct ourselves in day to day life as believers in Jesus as our Messiah? How should that impact our life? Should what we do and how we act look different than people who do not profess to be believers?
According to the Bible, yes.
Do we, overall as a group, look different than the world around us in what we say, how we act, and what we do?
I think some of us do. But others of us don’t realize the importance of this, and maybe we don’t even realize that we’re not making ourselves different.
So, let's shift gears a little bit here; what is it that we’re even supposed to be doing? Well, the whole Bible is filled with lots of instructions on how to live in a covenant community (which is what we are; groups of believers, churches, etc., we are in covenant with God and with each other, since we are One), how to interact with the surrounding nations (i.e. nonbelievers around us), what to do about our finances, possessions, families, friends, neighbors, and the list goes on. We are given many specific examples and instructions on how to live as a covenant people, as children of God. But I’m not even talking about that today, because what it all comes down to is bearing good fruit, something by which the world is supposed to recognize us and who we represent (Matthew 7:15-20). That’s right, it’s not our reputation that we’re risking here, but that of our King, because we bear His Name.
What is good fruit? What does that even mean? Well, if we look to Galatians 9:19-26, we have it laid out pretty clearly for us, and not just what good fruit is, but the difference between good fruit and bad, and why we should be exhibiting good fruit. I would encourage you to read those few verses.
I am going to concentrate on the good fruit instead of the bad. Because optimism. Right? Let's take a quick walk through them.
So, first we have love. That one is heavy, and in lieu of trying to explain it, I’m going to refer you to 1 Corinthians 13 (oh darn, she’s telling us to read more Bible verses! What a cruel and unusual punishment for a believer such as myself!) where you will see what love is and what it isn’t, and how we’re basically useless without it. And I also would like to point out that this is not referring to “self-love,” which is a huge trend in our culture lately, but is instead alluding to a selfless Christ-like kind of love that removes our focus from ourselves and looks out to those around us and how we can show God’s love and light to them. Not that you shouldn’t love yourself, because clearly you should, otherwise we wouldn’t be told to “love our neighbor as ourselves” (Lev. 19:18; Mark 12:31). The point is that loving ourselves should not be our focus. That, my friends, is called selfishness.
Anyway, next we have joy. I think that this one can be tricky, because we often seem to let our emotions get the best of us. Or we try to find joy and happiness in places where it does not live; at least not the kind that lasts. In order to exhibit this fruit, we need to find the true source of our joy, which is our God. He is the source of our joy. He gives us bountiful blessings, He takes care of us and provides for us, and He even sent His son to be our Messiah! I know that our circumstances are not always great, and that is basically just how the world works, but your joy does not come from your circumstances (or it shouldn’t). When people look at you, do they see just how great your joy is, since you find it in your Creator? Or do they see a miserable emissary that they have no desire to imitate?
I think that peace really goes hand in hand with joy, because they’re both kind of about more than your direct circumstances, and more about what your priorities are and what you choose, because you choose whether or not to find your joy in your King. And you choose whether to let his Peace surround you as well. Will you let it? Or will you let your circumstances get to you and show everyone around you just how unstable you can really be? God is the only one who can provide that wholeness; that all-consuming, all-fulfilling peace that makes you feel full instead of empty. And when we live our lives showing that we have that peace, not only does it have a positive effect on those around us, it also shows the glory of our King, because His peace surpasses human understanding (Phil. 4:7).
Patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness are all different attributes, but I think that we can put them all together because they all have to do with how you actually treat other, whereas we have been talking about fruits that are pretty much just your general attitude and vibe. Although patience can also be about waiting on God instead of just doing what you want to do when you want to do it (because we wouldn’t want to assert our dominance over God, would we?), I think it also has a lot to do with how you deal with other people. Being patient and trying to understand them, instead of making rash assumptions that are only going to complicate things and make people upset. Being patient and helping others to meet their potentials, instead of just looking down on them and thinking about how much better you are (or someone else is!). Being patient and getting to know someone, not judging a book by its cover. And being kind and understanding, thinking of the needs of others, and showing them that you care all go right along those lines, as does goodness and gentleness, as opposed to mean-heartedness and hostility, or dealing with others in a rough way. When we treat others with kindness, respect, and dignity, we show them that we care, and that our caring is a result of the loving and caring God that we serve.
One of the hardest of the fruits of the spirit is faithfulness. It’s not always hard to be faithful. When we are by ourselves, it can be pretty easy. When we are alone with God, we can devote our time to Him, we can speak openly with Him, and we can make pledges of devotion and faithfulness, or even when we are with another believer who can hold us accountable, but what about when we’re in the public eye? What about when it looks stupid to be so devoted to something we can’t see and have no “proof” of? When it seems like a waste of time, a pointless pursuit, and it singles us out as strange? Isn’t it easier to just act like everyone else? Or even to just let it go, because it’s not really that important that other people know your “personal interests.” Right? We are so busy worrying about our own reputations (even though honestly, what’s wrong with being known as someone who wholeheartedly serves the Creator of the universe?) that we forget that we bear the name of God and are ruining His divine reputation as we attempt to normalize our own and blend in to secular society. Let’s face it; we were kind of made to stick out. And isn’t it better to stick out a little than to present God as someone who is not worthy of the kind of faithfulness needed to show what He’s all about? Isn’t it more important to give Him the glory that He deserves? Shouldn’t we be faithful to Him before we are even faithful to ourselves? I guess it just depends on what kind of fruit you want to bear.
Ah, self-control, old friend. The never ending struggle against what our fallen natures want and what is good and right and pure. And in today’s culture, self-control is almost a moot point. We are encouraged to “be ourselves” and “live our truths” (whatever that means). But what is more important; falling prey to things that will lead us down dark and twisted paths, or having control enough to show the world the things that really matter, and who really owns this world? There are so many things that I could say here, but I think this one is the one that most of us know we need to work on. And not just for us. Because if people around us see us doing whatever we want, having everything we would like to and acting in ways that are abhorrent in the eyes of God, what does that make Him look like to them?
This is so important. What it really comes down to is us shifting our focus off of ourselves and on to who we serve.
So, knowing all of this (which most Christians will say that they do), why do we continually see our brothers and sisters acting almost the complete opposite of this? We are constantly seeing people take such offense at others for doing something that they don’t like. Or that they personally don’t think is right. Why are we so concerned with what others are doing and what others think of what we’re doing? Who put us in charge? Who gave us the right to be the ruling judge over everything? This sense of entitlement is not Biblical. We are called out of the world and set apart, and we are supposed to be better than that.
My challenge to you is this: shift your focus. Try to focus less on yourself, and more on who you serve. Remember that it’s not your reputation at stake, but ultimately His. That’s the choice you made when you entered into covenant with Him. Trade the selfish for the self-less, and produce good fruit. After all, that’s how everyone will know who you are.
So, who are you?
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