GIFTS & FRUIT… CAN’T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER!
DL Whittaker, Washington
Two themes for July are important, because I believe that they go hand in hand. That is, Gifts of the Spirit, and Fruit of the Spirit. I don't personally see how a Christian can possibly have one without the other, and yet, as I look around me today, I see a lot of false claims.
First of All, Gifts are something given to us, either as a reward for something fantastic that we have done, or because the person giving the gifts loves us and thinks we are worthy, or just because it was felt necessary to brighten up our day. We, in our lives, look forward to being the recipient of gifts, and the more ribbon and wrapping paper there is, the better we like it.
The bible teaches us, that we should seek the best gifts, but we limit ourselves, and God, by seeking the more insignificant gifts. In other words, we short change ourselves unmercifully, and we do this, because we don't think ourselves very worthy, or good enough to merit the best. We treat ourselves this way, because we have always believed that the world looks on us in an unworthy manner, so we must be unworthy. We say "that's human nature." We need to rid ourselves of that mental torture, and tell ourselves that we are just as good as our counterparts.
So what are gifts that we should seek?
One gift is the ability to teach, and teach effectively.
It is my belief that you don't have to be an eloquent speaker to teach effectively. If you study, you will be able to step in and do that. Some are given the ability to be prophets, and the list goes on from there. No, we cannot do it in ourselves; we must be used of God and the Holy Spirit. If we try in ourselves, our human nature is going to let us down, and we will fail dreadfully.
The Fruits of the Spirit come, not all at once, but with a lot of preparation and nurturing: Much cultivating, humbleness, prayer, etc. Fruit is something that is the result of sewing, reaping, watering, feeding, weeding, and it goes on from there. I don't, for one minute believe that we can be fruit bearing, if we don't have the Holy Spirit operating within us.
What are some of the fruits?
§ Love. Our human nature finds it difficult to love, because if someone makes a mistake, we take on a non-Christian attitude toward that person. That already takes away a major fruit of the spirit, and defeats our testimony. We justify that by saying, " we are human."
§ Joy is another fruit. We only have joy when everything is hunky dory. We turn it on and off at the drop of a hat. The attitude, I'll be joyful if I make a lot of money today, but if I wake up, and I am forced to get up, and I have to do the same things I did yesterday, I am going to be mad, sad, and the whole world will know just how I feel.
§ Peace: Are we at peace with ourselves, our neighbor, our family? More and more, when I pick up the paper, I find myself believing that no one, not even the Christian, is at peace, ever., and we certainly are not long suffering. We are the most impatient people in the world.
It is time, folks that we lay the word "Human" down and quit excusing ourselves for our own inadequacies. We are the reason; God has such a hard time getting his work done in us. Not other people.
If we have the Holy Spirit in operation in us, and the gifts, which are given without repentance then the Fruit of the Spirit, is going to begin to flow in our lives, and even the worst of sinners will know we have something they need.
Both are needed in each one of us, TODAY. Let us in this year that remains, take inventory, and see if we can't be more effective for the Lord. The world will never want what we say we have, if they don't see all of the evidence of possession.
God Bless You today. I love you.
Dave
