How lame is
fake fruit?
Very.
Yet, I
remember always being quite fascinated by it when I was a kid.
Mom and Dad would drag Mike (big brother), Scott (baby brother) and me
(middle sister) to the furniture store, and the most fun we could suck out of
that trip was playing with the fake fruit that sat so tactfully in glass bowls
on top of coffee tables or kitchen counters. Despite the glares of irritation
burning from the salespeople, Mike, Scott and I would poke and play with the
squishy grapes, shiny apples and textured oranges.
This was a
regular occurrence; fake fruit never seemed to get old.
No pun intended...
However...
Apparently,
for me, in many ways fake fruit still hasn't gotten old.
I'm finding
that I am still quite fascinated with these phonies.
But I'll
return to that in a moment.
Before the
Spring semester wrapped up at TCU,
God let me
take a sneak peek at the verse that would reveal a personal theme for my
upcoming summer.
And, with
every day that has passed during this summer break,
it has
become clearer and clearer to me just how well He knows me.
It has also
become very clear that He knew just what was on the lesson plan for the
summer,
before I
even entered the classroom.
"I am
the vine and you are the branches.
If a man
remains in me, and I in him,
he will
bear much fruit;
apart from
me he can do nothing,"
John 15:5
Without
Christ, we simply don't have it in us.
Without His
Spirit as my gardener, I am not bearing any fruit.
In fact,
I’m just forcing the production of plastic, fake fruit.
Now, my
point is not to beat up on myself and resolve that
I am a "fake" person.
Nor is it
to "give up on myself" in a defeated kind of way.
But
instead, I am finding that many of us may need to give God the victory in our
lives, and the authority in our gardens.
Because, we
simply cannot attain the righteousness of Christ,
and it is
only through His Spirit, bearing a bountiful harvest within us,
that true
fruit can be produced.
True fruit?
What’s true
fruit?
Well, y'all
know the verse...
"But
the fruit of the Self is
love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control."
Wait... I
don't know that version...
do you?
(If yes,
please burn it)
Last time I
checked, Galatians 5:22 read:
"But
the fruit of the SPIRIT is
love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control."
It is not our job to keep trying to be more loving, joyful, peaceful,
patient, kind, good, gentle and self-controlled until we can cross off each
fruit, like they’re on some kind of spiritual grocery list. Instead, our job is
actually much simpler. Our job is to give up what we think is our job, and give
it to the bearer of all fruit:
The Holy
Spirit.
This verse
puts it much more bluntly than I...
"Are
you foolish?
After
beginning with the Spirit,
are you now
trying to attain your goal
by human
effort?"
Galatians
3:3
When I read
this verse word by word,
I was shown
that it has self written all over it.
Another
read...
"Are you foolish?
After
beginning with the Spirit,
are you now
trying to attain your goal
by your effort?"
So, every
day, we have a decision to make.
We can, for
all our life,
produce
this fake fruit that is only good for decoration and child's play,
or we can give
up on our selves, so to speak,
surrender
to the Holy Spirit's work,
and bear
fruit that gives glory to God,
not our own
striving "Christian" self.
Dear Lord,
You know how I am wired. Most times, when faced with just about anything, it is my instinct to try as hard as I can to get the best result. But, you say that apart from you I can do nothing. I don't want fake fruit. I want the fruit that comes solely from your Spirit, so that You may gain all the glory in my life. Help me to yield my heart, mind and soul to your divine gardening. Teach me to give up on my self, and give in to You. I throw all of the fake fruit away that I have been so fascinated with farming and I welcome Your Spirit into the harvest you will surely complete.
I love you!
In Your Name,
Amen.
"...The Spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matthew 26:41