A Believers Report Card

This passage pretty much sums up the journey of the believer. We begin our walk of sanctification when we transition from producing the fruits of the flesh to instead producing the fruits of the spirit.

Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water. 

James 3.11–12

Here’s the thing – these are not attributes that you put on like a suit. An act you affect in front of various crowds. When we are trying to emulate these behaviors, we’re failing again. Contrast the fruits of the Spirit with the fruits of the flesh from just a couple verses earlier in Galatians.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5.19-21

So the question becomes this. I’m saved, I’m a believer. Why is it that the fruits of the Spirit are so much more difficult to harvest than the fruits of the flesh? I think often, it is because I’m using the wrong tool. I’m trying to produce good fruits using my flesh, which, as we just read, does not produce good fruit. I may as well try to build a barn using a fishing pole. The tool just isn’t suited to the task. At all. This introduces us to the concept of ‘abiding’ with Christ. That is, we must remain in Him, and He in us. 

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.  You are already clean a because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified i by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples. John 15.1-8

How do we abide? Through prayer, community, faith, reliance and most importantly – we remain connected by Love. None of the other things matter at all, if we don’t have a genuine affection for who Jesus is, and what He did for each of us. 

The truth is, our fruits are the result of what kind of tree we are. We can’t will ourselves to be a different kind of tree, the only thing that can change our nature is being grafted together with the true vine.

In essence, this is the same concept I discuss in the blog post Die to Self – the way to produce that good fruit is not to focus on the fruit, but rather to focus on the tree. Focus on the true vine, and you’ll start to see your nature change. When we abide in Christ, we begin to produce the fruits described in verses 22-23, and perhaps a reduction in the fruits of the flesh. That makes this passage, essentially, a report card, on where your heart is. Each of knows in our heart what kind of fruit we produce, this provides a scriptural way for us to measure our heart condition against the standard set by our model Jesus Christ. It might also be used as a way to recognize the progress that sanctification is making in your life. 

~Duane