What does it mean to be truly obedient to God? My good friend and fellow blogger, Rob Wilkerson explains here. He begins, “If we try to obey God and be like Jesus without the…..” You’ll have to read the two short paragraphs to find out what he says.
Once a month, we meet in small groups and have been discussing the Fruit of the Spirit (See Galatians 5). Last night’s discussion revolved around patience.
I have no patience. I don’t know that I can pull myself up by my bootstraps and make myself be patient. It’s not in me. At best, I can possibly be tolerant; not patient.
But isn’t that the point of Galatians 5? I mean, the Fruit of the Spirit is, well, fruit. Fruit cannot grow except it grow on a tree. If we are truly connected to the Tree of Life (Jesus) by the Spirit in the Gospel, the natural outflow is the Fruit the Spirit produces.
Although, we cannot tell in English so much, the word fruit in Galatians 5:22 is singular. What this means, at least in part, is we will either show all of the Fruits of the Spirit in a strong way or all in a weak way. This also means if I am demonstrating a couple of the “fruits” I am most likely picking myself up by my bootstraps and trying to demonstrate them in my own strength; hence, I’m not demonstrating all of them.
This is why the Gospel is so vital. We need to reflect on Jesus, His birth, life, death, and resurrection, by all of which He fulfilled everything God required of us but couldn’t or didn’t want to fulfill. Jesus was patient, kind, full of peace, love, joy, and the rest.
Jesus was patient even until the cross. He was patient towards everyone. He was patient for us and in our place.
What Jesus did frees us to be patient. We can’t do it, but Jesus did and His finished work becomes the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives as we continually trust Him and the Good News that He is and has done.
Don’t fret. Trust Jesus. He’s done it all. You reap the fruit.
What is Gospel-Centeredness? What could be the pitfall(s) of Gospel-Centeredness?
Don’t Be More Gospel-Centered Than Jesus from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
I have been contemplating revamping the site for a fresh start. Over the years, I have been partial to Movable Type as a publishing platform (still am), but the feature set is no longer where I need it (or want it). So I am switching to WordPress. If this doesn’t make sense, that’s ok. You can skip this post and wait for more to come!
Fresh Starts have always reminded me of the Gospel, 2 Corinthians 5:17–21:
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In other words, the Gospel Changes Everything. It produces a Fresh Start. So, let’s get started.