Some people believe they passively receive the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control) since we do passively receive certain gifts of the Spirit (often at birth.) But even as real fruit has to come from the work of the tree, we have to work at developing the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. Please join me as I explore the difference between the fruits of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
Both sets of Holy Spirit-enabled abilities come from God. Furthermore, we need to work at improving both sets of abilities. But God does not give every one of the gifts of the Spirit to every person. Some people receive certain gifts that others do not receive. This means some people feel more comfortable and are stronger using certain gifts that would feel unnatural for others to use.
But God calls us to develop every one of the fruits of the Spirit, even love. While we know God loves us perfectly, we must grow stronger in our ability to love by developing the other sub-fruits of the Spirit (Some say only love is THE fruit of the Spirit, and the others listed are sub-fruits of the Spirit.) As we practice the joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, we can become more loving people. But if we think these fruits come passively, the way we inherit some of the gifts of the Spirit, we might become lazy and self-deluded, thinking these beautiful qualities just emerge whenever we interact with others. A passive spiritual life only leads to the fleshly sin-nature, because that sin nature still lives in us. The sinful world, like a fast moving stream, pulls us down, and unless we resist that current, we will sin. So we cannot hope to passively grow those fruits of the Spirit.
God warns us about passivity. In Proverbs 6:9, he asks, “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?” Proverbs 18:9 uses even stronger words: “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.” James warns us too, such as James 4:17, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” And James also warns in 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” And Revs.3:15-16 also warns, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Passivity disgusts God, because it causes us to fall into our slothful and sinful nature.
Technically, even the gifts of the Spirit (usually given at birth) will be under-developed unless we work on developing and using them too. But while we do not receive all of the gifts of the Spirit, we can develop every one of the fruits of the Spirit. So we must examine our lives to determine if we need to develop those fruits. We can ask God to reveal our hidden sins (Psalm 19:12-14) because those sins are the opposite of the fruits of the Spirit (hatred, disgust, impatience, grumbling and striving, unkindness, self indulgence.) What are the gifts of the spirit? Here are just a few: apostleship, evangelism, hospitality, knowledge, intercession, shepherding, mercy, and several others.
You can look up the gifts of the Spirit, in some of these passages: 1Cor.12:4-11, Romans 12:4-8, Ephs. 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:10-11. As you read those passages, consider your strengths in those areas. You can take an online Spiritual gifts test (use a search engine to look one up or ask at your church.) You can also ask friends where they see you excelling as you serve the lord.
So please remember, we do not passively receive the fruits of the Spirit, the way we receive the gifts of the Spirit. We must work on our character to develop the fruits of the Spirit. God is faithful, and He will enable you to grow in your Christian character. But never give up striving to become a kinder, stronger Christian woman, because passivity will only lead to sin and never to growth.
I pray we’ve blessed you with this week’s post. If you have any stories about how you’ve grown in your spiritual gifts, or in how you’ve developed your spiritual fruit, please let me know so we can encourage one another.