Be Like Him

Many of us say that we want to be like Jesus and we focus on what Jesus did as our framework for being like Him.

Matthew 12:33 says that by our fruit we shall be known and many times I have heard this referred to with regard to the 5-fold ministry.  For example, an evangelist will see people saved, a good teacher can bring great wisdom from the scripture.   That emphasis is on what someone has done, expressly how they have operated in the gifts of the Spirit.

However, Jesus was referring to our character: a good tree will bear good fruit, a bad tree will bear bad fruit.  Paul picks this up in Galatians 5 and begins to talk about our character and the fruit of the Spirit that we should be bearing.

Galatians 5:22 refers to our fruit.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

If Jesus says that we will be known by our fruit and Galatians refers to the 9 “flavours” of the fruit, then this is the fruit that others should see and we should want in our lives.

To be like Jesus is to bear the fruit of the Spirit – this is the mark of God’s character on our lives.

You can have an amazing calling on your life, but if you do not have God’s character then you will be like the clanging cymbals in 1 Corinthians 13.

So we need to make a decision to bear good fruit and to be like Him.

When I attended Sunday School, we sang a song about the fruit of the Spirit and it has always stuck in my mind.

For the fruit of the Spirit is

Love, joy, peace

Patience, kindness, goodness

Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Against such there is no law.   (Galatians 5:22-23)

I always thought the last line was a strange line to add to the end of the list.  What did law have to do with the fruit of the Spirit?

But now I see, that’s the point; the law has nothing to do with the fruit of the Spirit.

If we belong to Christ our old self has been crucified with Christ including our sins and passions and now as a new creation, I choose to live by the Spirit.  I am not subject to the law as laid down by Moses with its regulations but I am subject to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 8:5, NIV)

Therefore, I have to choose whether I am going to bear good fruit, the fruit of the Spirit or whether I am going to revert back to my old life.

The Greek word for fruit in the Bible means “as plucked”.  This might seem obvious, as most fruit has to be picked either from a tree or a bush.

However, how often when we have lacked peace, for example, have we gone to the Father and asked for more peace as if we were picking fruit from a fruit bowl.  This is fruit that has already been plucked.

An apple tree cannot pick its own apples; a strawberry plant cannot pick its own strawberries.  Someone else comes along and plucks their fruit.

The fruit that you bear is there for other people to come and “pluck”.  The emphasis is on us bearing fruit.

When you were saved, God came to live in you by the power of His Spirit, which means that the minimum deposit that Christ put in you, was all of Him (Galatians 2:20 - Christ lives in me).  So, in you, you have all the seeds that you require to bear good fruit.

To produce good fruit, fruit that lasts, a tree draws daily from the stream.  In fact, a tree that is planted by a stream has a continual source of water to draw from.  (Psalm 1)

If we want to produce good fruit, more fruit to be “plucked”, then we have to learn to draw daily from the stream.

Take a moment to thank Him that you have the fruit of the Spirit.  Thank Him that the minimum deposit in your life is all of Christ, and be filled afresh today with the Holy Spirit.