February 27, 2025, the 58th day of 2025
If Nothijg Has Changed, You Are Not Changed
... View MoreFebruary 27, 2025, the 58th day of 2025
If Nothijg Has Changed, You Are Not Changed
There is a reason God tells us to look for the fruit of change those professing to be followers of Jesus, because without the good fruit, there is no new life.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:15-20
Without a change down to our core in salvation, we are not saved.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
II Corinthians 5:17
If we have not become a new creation in Christ, we remain the original, fallen being.
The fruit of the Spirit is contrasted to the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are listed first, because they are signs of an unchanged life.
"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, immorality, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Galatians 5:19-21
The works of the flesh show the character of the unsaved. They don't have to do all of these sins to show their nature, one will suffice. Someone may be a moral witch or an immoral teacher and be just as lost.
But as sin grows in a person, more sin will take over and join itself to the others. A moral drunkard does not stay moral very long.
There are many individual sins that show up before joining forces, but they do not need to join forces to still be a work of the flesh.
But the fruit of the Spirit is one fruit with all these characteristics. It is not many fruits. All aspects of that fruit need to be growing and maturing in the life of a true Christian.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:22-26
There is self-control in the fruit of the Spirit, which is what we use to crucify the flesh. It is what we use to control ourselves.
Obviously the potential to sin remains while the old life remains in us, until Jesus returns and our bodies put on the resurrected newness, incorruptible, immortal. Until then that old nature needs to be kept in check. Self-control comes with the fully surrendered life in Christ.
Lack of elf-control is will show quickly if a person has truly put their will in submission to Jesus or not. It is the hardest aspect of the fruit of the Spirit to fake.
The aspect of goodness is not doing good works alone, but being good. The aspect of love is not just acting loving, but being filled with God's love and spreading that love. All aspects of the fruit are from the Holy Spirit and grow more apparent as we walk in the Spirit.
Perfection is not a sign of the fruit of the Spirit. What is, is the change in a person that infuses that life with Jesus!
To be a new creation in Christ, the Spirit of Christ must dwell in us, changing us at our core!
Stay strong! Walk in the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in you!
NAN
