A Product of [Plant] Growth

It just hit me this morning! I guess I always knew this simple truth, but today it clicked for the first time. On my walk, I was thinking about my lack of self-control (when it comes to food, and now shopping may be an area of concern) and how I can work on this “fruit of the Spirit”. For several years now, I have often read Scripture, such as Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 13 and have made a sort of checklist. I look at the fruits or qualities of Christ that I’m lacking and figure out ways to work on those.

So as I was thinking about self-control, I wondered how I can truly practice this without relying on myself, since it is called SELF-control. I remembered hearing about how people often speak of willpower and how we stumble because of the reliance on ourselves; instead we should use “Godpower”—letting God’s power work in us. So what about self-control? I always thought self-control stood out from the other fruits, anyway—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness . . . and self-control? I definitely understand it being a fruit, but all the others just seem so . . . lovely. Self-control doesn’t sound as pretty as the other words. I kept thinking, how do I improve self-control? I figured it would turn out like all the other times I’ve tried to improve my other qualities or lack thereof. The process ends up becoming another list (and I love lists, really I do) of strategies for improvement. In the end, I fail.

This is when it hit me. I can’t improve my self-control. I can’t practice it. (I don’t believe you can practice any qualities; the situation arises and you just have to put it in action.) Self-control is exactly what it is called in the Bible—a fruit. Some synonyms of the word fruit: product, result, effect. I like the first definition of fruit on Dictionary.com: “any product of plant growth”. When I stay connected to the vine (John 15) and grow in Christ, I bear fruit. Why can’t I “bear fruit”, or improve in the problem areas (self-control, gentleness, peace), with the other strategies I’ve used? Because I haven’t focused on the source—staying connected to the vine. “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.” I’ve always known these truths, but my focus was all wrong. Honestly, I feel rather silly for just now making sense of it all. Why has my anxiety worsened in the past several months? Why when I pray for peace, has peace not come? My focus is peace and not the Vine. Peace is a product of growth. The same with self-control. The closer I grow to God and the more I allow His power to work in me and through me, the more I will see fruit.

After thinking all this, I thought it was funny that I even wrote it two Sundays ago in my sermon notebook. Seth had said (word for word or paraphrased—can’t remember), “Fruit of the Spirit is a result of God in us—branches connected to the vine. These demonstrate how deeply we are connected to the vine. We don’t bring the fruits of the Spirit to the table.” I was walking with Lorrie the other day when she brought up a good point. She said we often evaluate our spiritual lives by the type of quiet times we’ve been having. Instead, we should ask ourselves questions like, “Have I been irritable lately?” And there were other good ones, but I forgot. Oops. Basically, we need to look at the fruits of the Spirit. The amount of fruit we’re bearing will be a direct indication of the quality of our spiritual life.

I know there are areas in which I need to improve. At the beginning of my walk this morning, I was a little stressed out thinking of how I will improve. Do I tackle a few at a time? And how do I begin? But now after fully understanding the definition of the word fruit, I can take a deep breath of relief and find peace in the thought that the more I seek God, the more the other things will fall into place.