Songs and Fruits

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head for more than a day?  It can be a blessing or a disturbance, depending on the song.  The type of songs we listen too often tell the mood we are in.  If we are in a joyful mood, it is often an upbeat song, or if we are angry, the song is often heart pounding and talks about revenge.  Here is the other cool thing about songs and especially catchy tunes, they can help us remember things.  For me it was a song from kids camp many moons ago that helps me remember the Fruits of The Spirit.  They put the Fruit of the Spirit to the song  “Na Na Na, Hey, Hey, Hey, Kiss Them Good Bye.”  To this day, they only way I can remember the fruits of the Spirit is by singing the Fruits to that tune

In Galatians 5, Paul talks about how we are to have Fruits of the Spirit and we should cloth ourselves in them.  These things are love, joy, peace, patience, self control, forebearance, kindness, gentleness and self control.  We have to make a commitment on a daily basis to cloth ourselves in these things.  When we make a commitment to cloth ourselves in these things, God comes down and meets us there and He provides the grace and endurance for us to be clothed with these things.  These characteristics our not in our natural instincts if we are left to ourselves.  We tend to be impatient, not that loving, self centered, and losing our cool at the most inopportune times.  Clothing ourselves with these things doesn’t mean so much that we give up something, but it is what are we gaining.  If Christianity was truly about giving something up, I don’t think it would be worth it.  Could true Christianity be what we are gaining?  Instead of giving up vindication, retaliation, bitterness, which are all things that lead down a spiral and eventually to death, because we can not just stop and throwing one person under the bus, but its an addictive habit.   When we cloth ourselves with the fruit of the Spirit we are clothing ourselves with very nature of God.  The Fruits of the Spirit doesn’t save us, but they not only show who we belong too, but is also a sign of maturity.  Not only do these things bring us into right relationship with God, but it helps bring us into right relationship with others.  It helps us not only ask for forgiveness, but forgiving others when they have wronged us.  The goal of growing is not to still struggle with the same issues, but when we cloth ourselves with the character of God, we actually but away childish behaviors and move forward.  We are called to grow and to mature and not to be that slob that is so easy to be. 

There are two big theological terms here that we should discuss and they are imputing and imparting.  Imputing is what God does to us and He does to us what we can not do ourselves.  Imputing brings us back into right relationship with God through Christ work.  God imputes the Fruit of the Spirit to us, because it is something we can not do ourselves.  The other term is imparting, which is what God does through us.  In essence, it is the Fruits of the Spirit lived out in our daily lives.  It could be showing and having joy while balancing the checkbook, or having patience when a child is having a tempertantrum.  In essence, God is not only giving us grace, but we are being clothed in His righteousness and His character is becoming our own.  So in closing, are we letting God’s character become our character, and how are we letting it play out in our daily lives.  What is the point if we have God’s character and we do not let affect every part of our daily lives.  To finish up from last months newsletter, God did become one of us, not to be like us, but so we can be like Him and have our character changed.